Originally Posted by mgh888
I'd like to address the points about the Grand Jury and what the relevance of the rate of successful prosecution mean. Seems some are trying to bring that back as a means to exonerate DW - or claim that "you can indict a Ham Sandwich"


I asked before about the rate at which Grand Jurys indict in cases of Sexual Assault - to me that would be a direct link to DW and his situation. Those stats are not very easy to find - most sites deal with conviction rates (anywhere from 1.0-1.7% depending on the source) - the number of unreported sexual assaults (high - over 35%) etc. I eventually found this web site and article:

https://www.rainn.org/articles/what-expect-criminal-justice-system

It states - and I have no reason to doubt the authenticity - that out of 1000 cases of rape being reported - only 7 will be referred to the prosecutor. 993 out of 1000 won't get indicted is how I read that - someone can correct me if that interpretation is not correct.

Assuming that ratio of reported to un-indicted cases is accurate each can determine exactly what the GJ decision means to them. For me it means virtually nothing. It's why I think the Civil case will be important.


That goes against another part of their site https://www.rainn.org/statistics/criminal-justice-system

It shows out of 1000 instances 310 are reported. (I wonder how they estimate that if they are unreported...)
Out of 310 reported 50 lead to an arrest
Out of 50 arrests 28 lead to conviction of a felony and of those 28...25 will be incarcerated...

Which looks and IS horrible...But it is better numbers than robberies where 22 out of 1000 lead to conviction and 20 of those to prison...AND it has a better prosecution rate than Assault and Battery...(56% conviction rate to 39% for A&B)

So this is pretty disheartening on many fronts....but it isn't as bad as 7 out of 1000 RAINN has some good and helpful info on their site...which is why I find it odd that they are contradicting themselves...

And also I tried to look for indictment rates as well...we commented with each other about that...the RAINN site has some good info...but nothing about GJ's and indictments but rather arrests and convictions and that isn't the same thing...I will continue to look as well...but indictments are seriously common throughout all possible charges as that is the number I can find...and it is practically automatic. There is a reason why Lawyers prefer Grand Jury to a pre-trial hearing...A person facing a Grand Jury has ZERO power...NONE...there is no defense...and as the quote I posted stated......probable cause "is not a high bar"...