wheatgivesmeshits t1_jedatqn wrote on March 31, 2023 at 4:27 AM

Reply to comment by mojoxer in eli5 What does “indicted” mean? by jcw10489

While true it's also fleetingly rare for a grand jury indictment not to lead to a conviction. Federal Grand juries have a conviction rate of over 99%.

Edit: I was mistaken. Grand juries almost always indict, but conviction rates seem pretty hard to track down if anyone knows what the conviction rate is, please elucidate the rest of us.

Ninjaromeo t1_jedd9r0 wrote on March 31, 2023 at 4:52 AM

They have an indictment rate that high.

Any source on conviction rate being that high?

wheatgivesmeshits t1_jedegct wrote on March 31, 2023 at 5:05 AM

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/11/24/the-single-chart-that-shows-that-grand-juries-indict-99-99-percent-of-the-time/

Edit: this shows indictment rate, not conviction rate. I can't find a good source for the conviction rate.

GamerLeFay t1_jedf5fq wrote on March 31, 2023 at 5:13 AM

Pay walled, but what I can see of the article is saying that they indict 99% of the time, not the rate at which they convict.

Ninjaromeo t1_jedg3zz wrote on March 31, 2023 at 5:24 AM

Paywall bypassed

It does not say anything about conviction rate.

I think they just don't understand that indictment means "charged with" and not "guilty"

This eli5 would help, but a lot of wrong info here too

CalTechie-55 t1_jedi2e0 wrote on March 31, 2023 at 5:47 AM

It's not surprising because the prosecutors generally don't present exculpatory evidence to the grand jury. And there is no attorney for the defense. So, hearing only one side of the case, they almost always vote to indict.

mfb- t1_jednl5h wrote on March 31, 2023 at 6:58 AM

There is no precedent for this specific case, so I wouldn't extrapolate from past conviction rates anyway.