In England and Wales, jury trials are available in moderately serious felony cases tried in the Crown Courts, and in cases involving defamation, fraud, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution brought in either the King's Bench High Court or in County Court.
In 2022, England and Wales had about 26,303 criminal jury trials in Crown Court, and about 10 civil jury trials (out of something on the order of 400 or fewer cases filed that year in cases where jury trials are available). Jury trials in England and Wales are by juries of twelve in Crown Court criminal cases and High Court civil cases, and by juries of eight in County Court civil cases where there is a right to a jury trial (probably not more than one every year or two).
In the U.S. felony jury trials are generally to juries of twelve jurors, but lesser criminal charges and civil cases sometimes, but not always, have smaller juries, depending on the jurisdiction involved and the nature of the case.
On a per capita basis, as of 2022, England and Wales has about three times as many felony jury trials as the U.S. does (at both the state and local and at the federal level combined), and about three hundred times fewer civil jury trials than the U.S., again at the state and local and at the federal level combined. The higher rate of felony jury trials in England and Wales largely reflects a lower rate of guilty pleas and plea bargaining there.
Jury trials in England and Wales are conducted by barristers for both the prosecution or plaintiff, and for the defense (except in rare cases of self-represented parties). Solicitors in England and Wales don't conduct jury trials, nor do they conduct bench trials in the higher courts.
Less than 1.5% of criminal jury trials in the U.S. are conducted in federal court. About 7.5% of civil jury trials in the U.S. are conducted in federal court. Trials of civil cases with small amounts in controversy are overwhelmingly conducted via bench trials in state and local courts of limited jurisdiction. These low stakes bench trials are vastly more common than state or federal civil jury trials.
About two-thirds of U.S. civil jury trials are in personal injury cases, about 10% are in termination of parental rights cases, and about 25% are in other civil matters such as civil rights cases, fraud cases, and breach of contract cases.
Civil jury trials make up about one in six U.S. jury trials (i.e. a little more than 16%), but only about one in 2,600 jury trials in England and Wales.
About half of criminal jury trials conducted in the U.S. are in misdemeanor and traffic cases, while jury trials are not conducted in less serious criminal cases in England and Wales which are handled in the Magistrate's Courts.
Overall, England and Wales actually has about 25% more jury trials per capita than the U.S. does. This largely reflects the fact that a far larger proportion of felony criminal cases in England and Wales go to trial than in the U.S. where felony criminal cases are much more likely to be plea bargained. England and Wales expressly limits the sentencing consequences of going to trial rather than pleading guilty, and also has shorter maximum sentences for comparable crimes in most cases.
In the federal courts and about half of all U.S. states, felonies must be commenced via a grand jury indictment (which is typically a jury of 23 people with 12 votes in favor required to indite). The other half of U.S. states use grand jury indictments primarily in cases involving organized crime or public officials that make up perhaps 1-2% of the total number of prosecutions in those states each year.
England and Wales no longer has grand juries, although, on some occasions it does convene a coroner's jury when the cause of death of an individual is in doubt and the coroner wants to involve the general public to make the process more transparent. This is also done infrequently in a small number of U.S. states.
The jury trial rate in the U.S. is based upon Colorado state court jury trial statistics for 2022 and national federal court jury trial statistics for 2022.
Colorado had 794 state felony jury trials, 478 state misdemeanor jury trials, and 342 state traffic case jury trials. Colorado had 12 state court felony bench trials, 124 quasi-criminal juvenile delinquency bench trials, 53 state court misdemeanor bench trials, 49 state court traffic bench trials, and 574 quasi-criminal infraction bench trials.
There were also a modest number of municipal court ordinance violation jury trials in Colorado for which good statistics are not compiled on a statewide basis for its 215 some municipal courts (most with very few cases that go to trial, mostly in traffic cases and minor misdemeanor equivalent cases, maximum sentences are capped at one year in jail or fines of up to $1,000 in Colorado's municipal courts).
Colorado had 248 state court of general jurisdiction civil jury trials (about 75% in personal injury cases), 13 county court (limited jurisdiction up to $25,000 in controversy) civil jury trials, and 32 termination of parental rights case jury trials. Colorado had 233 general jurisdiction court civil bench trials. Colorado has 672 limited jurisdiction court civil bench trials, and 1,572 small claims court civil bench trials.
Nationally, in the United States in the year 2022, there were 1,268 federal court criminal jury trials, 194 federal court criminal bench trials, 1,348 federal court civil jury trials, and 639 federal court civil bench trials.
These statistics on bench trials omit many evidentiary hearings in state and federal court that are similar to bench trials, for example, in domestic relations, probate, and bankruptcy cases.
In a February 24, 2006 post, I looked in more detail at a national sample of U.S. jury trials and at the likelihood of different kinds of cases being resolved with jury trials:
A national sample of civil jury trials breaks down the cases by type. About 78% of civil jury trials are in "tort" cases, most of which involve physical injuries, shown below by type of case (with a percent of the total number of all civil jury trials in that kind of case):Automobile Accidents 31.98%Dangerous Premises 16.10% (e.g. slip and fall cases)Medical Malpractice 11.39%Intentional Torts 3.64% (e.g. civil damages for assault)Product Liability 3.06%Toxic Substances 2.08%Professional Malpractice 1.52% (other than medical)Slander and Libel 0.54%Other Tort or Unknown 7.68%Civil jury trials making up 19.2% of the total number involve people in contractual relationships with each other. About 10.41% of the total number of civil jury trials involve suits between buyers and sellers, about 2.83% involve employment cases, about 2.68% of the total number of civil jury trials involve fraud, about 1.21% involve leases, about 0.06% involve mortgages, and about 2.04% involve other kinds of contract cases.About 2.4% of jury trials are in real estate cases, three-quarters of which are suits to determine the fair market value of property seized by eminent domain by a government agency (about half of the rest concern disputes over who owns real estate). About 0.38% were incapable of being classified.If Colorado is typical of the national pattern (I suspect it isn't that far from the national average) this means that 83% of jury trials are criminal (we know this), 13% of jury trials are in tort cases (about 260), and 4% of jury trials are in other kinds of civil cases (about 83 per year).So, how often do different kinds of cases go to juries:* Civil Tort in General Jurisdiction Court 423 per 10,000 cases (based on 6,142 such cases per year and 78% of 334 civil jury trials).* Felony 150 per 10,000 cases* Misdemeanor 80 per 10,000 cases* Traffic 20 per 10,000 cases* Non-Tort Civil Cases in General Jurisdiction Court 17 per 10,000 cases (excluding domestic, juvenile, mental health and probate cases).* Civil Cases in Limited Jurisdiction Court 1 per 10,000 casesThe jury trial rate in felony cases also is likely quite different between more serious cases (where the jury trial rate is likely to be higher) and less serious ones (where the jury trial rate is likely to be lower).
According to a post at this blog on May 23, 2011, based upon the Annual Report of the Colorado Supreme Court from 2010, in that year (with some minor editing):
There were 13,860 domestic relations hearings in District Court: 13,487 permanent orders hearings in dissolution of marriage cases, 202 legal separation hearings, and 171 invalidity of marriage hearings. Note that almost every dissolution of marriage or legal separation of invalidity of marriage case where children are involved must be concluded with a hearing, even if the cases are uncontested. So this doesn't necessary capture the full number of active litigations in these cases.There were 183 mental health hearings in District Court: 49 for involuntary commitment for alcohol treatment, 78 long term certification hearings, and 56 short term certification hearings.There were 2,729 probate hearings: 430 for combined conservatorships and guardianships, 614 for conservatorships without guardianships, 1,517 for guardianships without conservatorships, 137 for the formal probate of a will, 11 for will contests, and 20 hearings related to trusts. Many of the conservatorship, guardianship and formal probate cases are not genuinely contested but do require in court testimony to establish the faces beyond mere affidavits.
A November 17, 2006 post at this blog noted that 58% of federal court trials are 1-3 days long, 94% of federal trials are no more than 9 days long (typically two weeks), and 98% of federal trials (including a civil cases) are no more than 19 days long (typically four weeks).
How long are federal trials in Colorado?Criminal1-3 days - 244-9 days - 1010-19 days - 120+ days - 2Civil1-3 days - 424-9 days - 3110-19 days - 420+ days - 0
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