Are cases filed by federal prosecutors more likely go to trial than cases filed by state prosecutors?
By Allegra Taylor
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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.
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