Jury Trial Conviction Vs. Bench Conviction Rate

[serenesam]

Statistically, federal judges are significantly more likely to acquit than a jury is—over a recent 14 year period, for example, the jury trial conviction rate was 84%, while the bench conviction rate was a mere 55%.

 

Source: WHY ARE FEDERAL JUDGES SO ACQUITTAL PRONE?

[Buffy]

Do you find this surprising? Why?

 

Please discuss rather than simply posting links.

 

 

Mere access to the courthouse doors does not by itself assure a proper functioning of the adversary process, :phones:

Buffy

[serenesam]

Do you find this surprising? Why?

 

Please discuss rather than simply posting links.

 

 

Mere access to the courthouse doors does not by itself assure a proper functioning of the adversary process, :phones:

Buffy

No, it actually doesn't surprise me because it's pretty obvious that judges are very likely more knowledgeable than we give them credit for. It's a paradox and so this is the part where I think most ordinary people cannot conceptualize. Analogously, a King or a Queen isn't as evil as we may perceive them to be compared to say a group of "mob rulers." Ah! The so-called belief of democracy! This could also be complicated by a race factor that I'm not sure if I would be allowed to talk about due to the potential of political correctness in that there's a notion of the cognitive perception process of certain races that may be more careful, open to possibilities, and "complete (for a lack of better words)." 

[Buffy]

Well there are many factors involved all of which would tend to confirm the likelihood of a difference in conviction rates, so there's really no paradox.

 

A lot of the rest of what you said there seems steeped in a misunderstanding of statistical distributions and averages, but it's hard to tell unless you say what you mean.

 

We're a science forum, so we don't pay much attention to what is "politically correct," but we love to crush that which is outright prevarication, bias and falsehood.

 

 

Be careful what you wish for.

 

 

This is patently absurd; but whoever wishes to become a philosopher must learn not to be frightened by absurdities, :phones:

Buffy