- Conviction rate
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The conviction rate of a prosecutor or government is the number of criminal cases brought divided by the number of convictions. Japan has a conviction rate that exceeds 99%, which has been attributed to low prosecutorial budgets impelling understaffed prosecutors to present judges with only the most obviously guilty defendants.[1] In the U.S. federal court system, the conviction rose from approximately 75 percent to approximately 85% between 1972 and 1992.[2] The conviction rate is also high in U.S. state courts. Coughlan writes, "In recent years, the conviction rate has averaged approximately 84% in Texas, 82% in California, 72% in New York, 67% in North Carolina, and 59% in Florida."[3]
References
- ^ J. Mark Ramseyer and Eric B. Rasmusen (Jan., 2001), Why Is the Japanese Conviction Rate so High?, 30, The Journal of Legal Studies, pp. 53–88
- ^ Sara Sun Beale, Federalizing Crime: Assessing the Impact on the Federal Courts, 543, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
- ^ Peter J. Coughlan (Jun., 2000), In Defense of Unanimous Jury Verdicts: Mistrials, Communication, and Strategic Voting, 94, The American Political Science Review, pp. 375–393
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