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1 Carla K. Gaskins, Felony Case Processing in State Courts, 1986 1 (1986)

handle is hein.death/fcpsc0001 and id is 1 raw text is: U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics / Felony Case Processing in State Courts, 1986 By Carla K. Gaskins BJS Statistician Of the estimated 583,000 persons con- victed of a felony in State courts in 1986, 8% were found guilty by a jury, 3% were found guilty by a judge, and 89% pleaded guilty. The most serious offenses- the violent crimes of murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault - comprised about 20% of all felony convictions but an estimated 41% of all jury trials. These find- ings are from the National Judicial Report- ing Program (NJRP), a nationwide survey sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Statis- tics (BJS). Other findings include the following: * By offense, convictions for larceny had the highest percentage of guilty pleas (92%); for murder or nonnegligent man- slaughter, the lowest (58%). * Sentences to prison or jail occurred In 84% of jury convictions, 71% of bench trial convictions (decided by a judge alone), and 65% of guilty pleas. * An estimated 71% of felons convicted by a jury received a prison sentence, compared to 50% of those convicted by a judge and 44% of those who pleaded guilty. * Prison sentences were, on average, twice as long for felons convicted by a jury trial (159 months) as for felons who pleaded guilty (72 months). The average sentence of felons convicted by a judge was 103 months. February 1990 The National Judicial Reporting Program of the Bureau of Justice Statistics pro- vides nationally representative data that for the first time permit description of the felony conviction process in State courts. This report summarizes the out- comes of decisions made by defen- dants, attorneys, prosecutors, and judges throughout the United States. While every defendant has a constitu- tional right to trial by jury, most choose * Felons sentenced to jail in a jury trial received a mean, or average, sentence of 12 months. The mean jail sentence in a bench trial was 10 months and following a guilty plea, 9 months. * An estimated 47% of felons convicted by a jury of murder or nonnegligent man- slaughter were sentenced to life in prison or to death. Such sentences for murder or nonnegligent manslaughter occurred in about 12% of the bench trials and 15% of the guilty pleas. * In 33% of jury trial convictions, felons were found guilty of multiple offenses. Twenty-six percent of the guilty pleas and 17% of the bench trial convictions invc .ed multiple offenses. * Overall, the average elapsed time f--,m arrest to sentencing for convicted felc ., was about 6 1/2 months. The average to plead guilty. Survey data Indicate that juries are largely used to decide guilt in the more serious cases. BJS thanks the judges, court administra- tors, prosecutors, and others who pro- vided the data that made this report possible. Joseph M. Bessette Acting Director length of jury trials was about 7 1/2 months, while both bench trial and guilty plea cases took an average of about 6 1/2 months. * The average elapsed time from date of arrest to date of felony conviction was about 5 1/2 months. There was some indication that jury cases took the longest time: 6 1/2 months. Average elapsed time from arrest to conviction for other cases was about 5 1/2 months for both bench trial and guilty plea convictions. o Elapsed times from arrest to conviction were longest for cases of murder or non- negligent manslaughter. On average, such cases required about 9 months for disposi- tion. o Average elapsed time from conviction to sentencing for persons convicted of a felony was about 1 month, regardless of the method of conviction. (aJ~i

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