On Monday, March 19, 2018, 5:06:39 PM PDT, juan <[email protected]> wrote: On Mon, 19 Mar 2018 22:56:40 +0000 (UTC) jim bell <[email protected]> wrote:
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxwWKQ2pbO0 >so let's say that people refuse to plead 'guilty' - wouldn't they just >be kept in jail forever, waiting for their turn? Do you have >references showing that if the govt can't do a 'speedy trial' it will >set their hostages free? There is such a thing as the "Speedy Trial Act", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedy_Trial_Act However, it has as many holes as a piece of Swiss cheese. However, the Feds have a limited capacity to house pre-trial prisoners, a limited number of prosecutors, courtrooms, judges, investigators, etc. Currently they are putting on about 77,000 new defendants each year, probably convicting 76,000 of them, yet only having about 2,500 trials each year. In other words, about 30 convictions for each actual trial. I am hopeful to drop this to maybe 1.5 to 2 convictions for each actual trial. I don't believe that the Feds will be able to put on more than about 5,000 trials, given their limited capacity. Give virtually every defendant a powerful motivation to demand a jury trial, and I think the large majority of them will do so. There would still be plea agreements, but they will be on a far better basis, for the defendants, than before. Jim Bell
