When a person is charged with commiting a crime, he or she is given the opportunity to respond. There are three possible responses: a guilty plea, not guilty plea, and no contest plea. If a defendant does not enter a plea, a plea of not guilty will be entered for him or her. From the Latin, nolo contendre, no contest means the person does not refute the charges, but also does not claim guilt for the charges. This can save time if a person convicted of a crime must stipulate to each of the charges.

However, while the person charged with the crime is not pleading guilty or contesting the charges, he or she is often considered guilty when pleading no contest. If sentencing for a crime is immediate then the plea does not carry any special weight when a judge considers sentencing.

In fact, a person who wants a trial to defend his or her innocence would probably not use a no contest plea. Sometimes a court can be petitioned for a change of plea, but this is not always allowed. Instead, the no contest plea is almost always used when the plea results in immediate sentencing. Additionally, a person convicted of a crime who pleaded no contest is just as guilt as if he or she pleaded guilty.

In some cases, however, clients who feel they would not win at charges but assert their innocence are convinced to plead no contest since this will result in a plea bargain. If the case really seems unwinnable in a trial by jury, a shorter sentence option may be more attractive. Yet the person still wants to somehow not make an absolute statement of guilt. In this case, one may plead no contest to suggest that one is resigned to accepting punishment for the charges but is not making an assertion of guilt.

This may not always be an effective strategy, particularly if the person asserting innocence may also be facing civil court for behaviors for which he or she is pleading no contest. In fact, a no contest plea is often looked at as a plea of guilty by the civil court, and thus the person is likely to lose lawsuits in civil court that result from damages incurred by the alleged crime. The no contest plea does not keep the court from finding the person guilty. In fact it almost always results in conviction.

State law in the US is usually the determining factor in whether a person can plead no contest. Sometimes the no contest plea is not allowed. Canadian laws leave decisions as to when the no contest plea can be used up to individual judges. Some countries do not allow for a no contest plea at any time.