How common are Jury Trials in Texas?

HOW COMMON ARE JURY TRIALS IN TEXAS?

- It depends how one looks at it.    

In large metropolitan jurisdictions with numerous county and district courts, citizens are summoned for jury duty in large numbers. Though only a certain percentage complies, jurors (or potential jurors, if not yet selected) are a daily presence at the courthouse. Because the county and district clerk cannot accurately predict how may will be needed, and how many will answer the call, many citizens called for jury duty may not be chosen to serve, and may not even be escorted to a courtroom for voir dire, which the legal term for the process which involves instructions and examination of potential jurors – also called members of the venire -- for suitability to actually serve on a jury. So, especially in populous counties, juries and jury service, are part and parcel of the local judicial system.

Statistically, however, jury trials are rare, compared to other dispositions. That is true both of civil and criminal cases. The proportion of jury trials in criminal cases is much higher than in civil cases, but only as a percentage of the cases that go to trial, as opposed to all cases. The latter percentage is small, because most cases are disposed of by plea-bargaining.

According to the most recent Annual Statistical Report for the Texas Judiciary, overall, only 3.1 percent of all criminal cases (excluding motions to revoke probation) went to trial in Fiscal Year 2014. The highest trial rate occurred in murder cases (27.8 percent), followed by capital murder cases (25.6 percent). Of the 6,493 cases that went to trial, 39.9 percent were tried before a jury. Defendants were convicted in 81.1 percent of cases that went to jury trial, compared to 93.8 percent that were convicted in cases that were decided by a judge.

The charts, from the Annual Statistical Report reproduced below, which report case disposition for different types of trial courts, illustrate the rarity of jury trials in civil cases:

DISPOSITION OF CIVIL CASES IN DISTRICT AND COUNTY COURTS IN TEXAS 

Disposition of Civil Cases in District Courts 

Disposition of Civil Cases in Statutory County Courts 

Disposition of Civil Cases in Constitutional  County Courts

CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO JURY TRIAL – TEXAS CONSTITUTION

Sec. 15.  RIGHT OF TRIAL BY JURY.  The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate.  The Legislature shall pass such laws as may be needed to regulate the same, and to maintain its purity and efficiency.  Provided, that the Legislature may provide for the temporary commitment, for observation and/or treatment, of mentally ill persons not charged with a criminal offense, for a period of time not to exceed ninety (90) days, by order of the County Court without the necessity of a trial by jury. 

(Amended Aug. 24, 1935.)

Link to -->  Online copy of the Texas Constitution. 

  

JURY ASSEMBLY BUILDING - HARRIS COUNTY JURY PLAZA 

Harris County Jury Plaza - Entrance to Underground Facility 

Harris County has a dedicated jury assembly facility, most of it underground, which is located in the square that is framed by its multiple courthouses: the Harris County Civil Courthouse, the Criminal Justice Center, the Family Law Center, and the Juvenile Justice Center.

The 1910 Courthouse that is now the seat of the First and Fourteenth Court of Appeals, is one block to the West.

1910 Harris County Courthouse
with Downtown Houston Office Towers  

Questions addressed by this blawg post: How many cases are tried by jury and without a jury. How common a jury trials in Texas courts? Does the Texas Constitution guarantee the right to trial by jury?  

Descriptors: Statistics on use of jury trials in Texas. Incidence of jury trails versus bench trial and other dispositions. Texas trial courts. Texas jury system. Jury trial system in Texas. Disposition by trial and other types of dispositions of civil and criminal court cases. 

Additional features or content: Photo of Harris County Jury Assembly Building; image of old Harris County Courthouse from the direction of the Jury Plaza / Civil Courthouse.