Under three percent of federal crime convictions and resulting sentences are the product of jury trials. That means that 97 percent of criminal sentences have been pleaded down to lesser offenses and shorter sentences. In the state courts, even fewer convictions involve juries. Our founding fathers created the jury system to involve citizens in the criminal justice process. Now the system is almost entirely controlled by prosecutors who have taken juries and judges out of the trial and sentencing process.
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People would scream bloody murder if everyone charged had a jury trial because their taxes would go up. And employers would scream bloody murder because their employees would often be out for jury duty. It would be more fair though.
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