Plaintiffs win six out of 10 nonjury trials, where judges make the decisions. Last year, the juries issued less than half as many million-dollar verdicts as they did in 1992. They did that only four times in 1992. They levied punitive damages, a rare measure to penalize defendants for serious misconduct, in only 19 trials last year, the lowest number in 20 years. Judges eventually reduce or throw out more than half of such awards.
Criminal juries are just as cautious.
In Texas, juries have been convicting defendants at an 80 percent rate for a decade now, slightly above the national average, reflecting a broad public impatience with crime, experts say. Smith County prosecutors noted that the man had 10 convictions for offenses ranging from theft to assault and said local jurors see heavy sentences as a way to keep chronic criminals off the street. Dallas County District Judge John Creuzot says one of his juries recently returned a guilty verdict and life sentence for murder in seven minutes - and later the foreman apologized for taking so long. No one should ever complain that juries here are weak on crime. Prosecutors are also frequently surprised at how harsh juries can be, says Dallas District Attorney Bill Hill.