The conviction rate for all prosecutions is 99% and confessions made in police custody without a lawyer present are almost as common.
People who have been briefed by aides to President-elect Barack Obama have said, however, that he plans to suspend all activity in the system and may direct that all prosecutions be in federal courts.
Imagine that the evidence against our soldiers was so weak, and had been gathered in such a shoddy and disorganized manner, that the commissions allowed hearsay into evidence -- to be analyzed not by professional judges but by lay jurors -- just to "make sure" that any and all prosecutions were successful.
In the United States 93-95% of all criminal cases in local and state courts, and 97% of all federal prosecutions are resolved through negotiation and not criminal trial (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2008; Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 20022004; United States Courts 2011a).
More than half of all federal prosecutions are now for immigration-related offences.
Advocates for medical marijuana said today that this campaign would continue, with many noting that nearly all marijuana prosecutions are handled at the state rather than federal level.
Perhaps most of all, criminal prosecutions are needed to make sure that this does not happen again.
These prosecutions are all the more remarkable because, apart from jaywalking and pot smoking, not many crimes in the U.S. are committed more routinely than the disclosing of classified information to journalists by government officials.
Such prosecutions are rare all in all, even though assisted suicide — under medical supervision and specific circumstances — is legal in only four states: Oregon, Washington, Montana and, as of a few months ago, Vermont.
In virtually all the cases, prosecutions were either dropped or the defendant was acquitted, said Stefan Presser, legal director for the A.C.L.U. of Pennsylvania.
