The data indicate that the number of criminal jury trials has increased only about 70% between 1955 to 1978. Nevertheless, two-thirds of felony trials are conducted before juries. Despite common myths pointing to judge leniency toward criminals, the data show that most defendants who are tried get convicted. We did find, however, that juries were more likely to convict felons than were judges, and judges were more likely to convict non-felons than were juries. This finding questions the Kalven and Zeisel conclusion that, 'the reason for disagreement (between judges and juries) are on the whole not crime specific.' (Publisher abstract)