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Are cases filed by federal prosecutors more likely go to trial than cases filed by state prosecutors?

Friday, September 11, 2020
By Allegra Taylor
NO

State and federal cases both have low likelihoods of coming to trial. After receiving a police report of a crime, prosecuting attorneys can choose whether to file charges depending on the available evidence. They may choose to settle a plea bargain. They very rarely end up going into a courtroom.

Pew Research reported that of 80,000 federal criminal cases in 2018, only 2% went to trial.

In 2017, fewer than 3% of criminal cases in the 22 states that reported data went to a jury trial.

Civil cases have a lower chance of going to trial than criminal cases. A Duke University law journal article reported that for 2013, no state had more than 0.62% of civil cases go to trial.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
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