Juries--Not Judges--Are Toughest on Felons, Study Finds

The term “hanging judge” may have to be reevaluated, since more people convicted of felonies by state court juries wind up in prison than those found guilty by judges, and they spend a longer time incarcerated, said a study released Sunday.

At the same time, the overwhelming majority of convicted felons--89%--plead guilty, and those who own up to their misdeeds spend a shorter time in prison than those convicted by a judge or a jury, the study said.

The penalties of life in prison or death are meted out to 47% of those convicted by juries of murder or non-negligent manslaughter. Meanwhile, only 15% of those who pleaded guilty to such charges and 12% of those found guilty by a judge received those penalties, according to the report by the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Of the estimated 583,000 people convicted of a felony in state courts in 1986, 89% pleaded guilty, 8% were convicted by a jury and 3% were found guilty by a judge.

Felons convicted by a jury were sentenced to an average of 159 months in prison, compared to 103 months when they were convicted by a judge.

The study was based on data from 100 counties in 37 states.