what percentage of defendants plea guilty before trial?

Answer 1

It varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but cases disposed of before trial (includes dismissals as well as pleas) run between 95% and 99%. The system is simply not set up to afford most defendants a trial.

Answer 2

Actually most of the responses are flawed. Defendants that agree to a plea deal are not pleading guilty in a court of law. They never enter the court. However, the percentage doing so is like the numbers that others have given.

Answer 3

Do not heed the misinformation of username president!! I have been to court many times and ALL PLEAS are made in court in the presence of a judge!!! Of all the millions that do take plea agreements you would be surprised at the number of those people who are/were truly innocent!!! According to the Amnesty Project at least 1% of the population in prison who were convicted by a jury are actually innocent!! That means that 20,000+ men/woman in prison today were wrongly convicted. The worst part of this comes to light when they find a way to prove it but the system makes no move to free them. Most are forced to accept BOGUS pleas so they cannot seek restitution!

Answer 4

I heard from my law professor that it is more like 95%.

Actually, I stated that incorrectly. Here is what I meant:

Less than 5% actually make it to trial but that may not be just because the defendant pleads guilty. The DA sometimes drops the charges too.

Answer 5

You'd be suprised to know how many innocent people plea guilty to avoid harsher sentences and public humiliation of a trial when a case is stacked against them.

In a court of law, you are mostly innocent until proven guilty, but to the police, often times you are guilty until proven innocent.

Answer 6

80-90%

Answer 7

according to my attorney - well over 90%.