Conviction rate

The conviction rate of a prosecutor or government is the number of convictions divided by the number of criminal cases brought.

Canada

In Canada, the national conviction rate is about 97%. This does not include cases in which the charges are dropped, which comprise about one-third of criminal cases. Absent Quebec, the province with the lowest conviction rate, the figure is 99%.[1]

China

In China, the justice system has a Conviction rate of about 99.9%.[2] This has been attributed to the use of torture and other coercive measures to extract confessions and pressure on courts and prosecutors.[3]

India

The national conviction rate in India for violations of the Indian Penal Code is around 46%. This tends to vary state by state. The state with the highest conviction rate is Kerala, at about 84%, while the one with the lowest rate is Bihar, at around 10%.[4][5]

Israel

The conviction rate in Israel is around 93%. Around 71.5% of trials end with a conviction on some charges and acquittal on others, while around 21.6% end with a conviction on all charges. This does not include plea bargains and cases where the charges are withdrawn, which make up the vast majority of criminal cases.[6]

Japan

In Japan, the criminal justice system has a conviction rate that exceeds 99%, including guilty plea cases.[7] This has been attributed to low prosecutorial budgets impelling understaffed prosecutors to bring only the most obviously guilty defendants to trial.[8]

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has three prosecuting bodies that cover different geographic areas. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service for Scotland. In Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland (PPSNI) and in England and Wales most prosecutions are brought by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

The latests figures for 2017/18 in England and Wales show at Crown Court the conviction rate was 80.0% and at Magistrates Court the conviction rate was 84.8%.[9]

In Northern Ireland figures show at Crown Court the conviction rate for 2017/18 was 87.2% and at Magistrates Court it was 79.0%.[10]

United States

In the United States, the federal court system, the conviction rose from approximately 75 percent to approximately 85% between 1972 and 1992.[11] For 2012, the US Department of Justice reported a 93% conviction rate.[12] 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."[13]

References

  1. ↑ nationalpost.com/news/canada/just-3-of-criminal-cases-end-in-aquittal/
  2. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/03/11/china-scored-99-9-percent-conviction-rate-last-year/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.2926d2762d0b
  3. ↑ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/12193202/Chinese-courts-convict-more-than-99.9-per-cent-of-defendants.html
  4. ↑ https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/crime/041217/keralas-conviction-rate-double-national-average.html
  5. ↑ https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Conviction-rate-up-Kerala-tops-with-over-77/articleshow/48408220.cms
  6. ↑ https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4228980,00.html
  7. ↑ Hideki Igeta (Jan 2001), Conviction Rate in the U.S. is 99%? (Amerika no yuzairitsu wa 99%?), 1044, Hanrei Taimuzu, pp. 54–59
  8. ↑ J. Mark Ramseyer and Eric B. Rasmusen (Jan 2001), Why Is the Japanese Conviction Rate so High?, 30 (1), The Journal of Legal Studies, pp. 53–88
  9. ↑ "CPS - Key Performance Measures 2017/18 Q1-3". CPS.
  10. ↑ "PPSNI - Statistical Bulletin" (PDF). PPSNI.
  11. ↑ Sara Sun Beale, Federalizing Crime: Assessing the Impact on the Federal Courts, 543, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
  12. ↑ "United States Attorneys' Annual Statistical Report for Fiscal Year 2012" (PDF). United States Department of Justice. Retrieved 2014-10-28.
  13. ↑ Peter J. Coughlan (Jun 2000), In Defense of Unanimous Jury Verdicts: Mistrials, Communication, and Strategic Voting, 94 (2), The American Political Science Review, pp. 375–393
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