American Bar Association standards of behavior, which are voluntary and intended as self-regulating for lawyer conduct in the courtroom and between lawyers and clients: The ABA Model Code of Professional Responsibility was approved in 1969.

A genuine admission or acknowledgment of wrong doing.

Acceptance of responsibility can be exemplified in a report of a federal presentence investigation when convicted offenders wrote an explanation and apologized for the crime(s) they committed

An acceptance of responsibility is a provision that may be considered in deciding whether leniency should be extended to offenders during the sentencing phase of their processing.