The following may delay and/or reduce a refund: A tax return that has errors A taxpayer and/or spouse, if filing a joint return, who has any outstanding unpaid assessments,
Overall, for all areas of the law, federal civil trials have declined 60 percent since the mid-1980s. In 2002, less than 2 percent of those cases ended in a trial â down from 12 percent in 1962 and 20 percent in the 1920s. Less than 5 percent of criminal cases go to trial; most result in plea bargains.
With violent crime falling, and bipartisan concerns about the rising costs of capital murder trials increasing â some states spend an average of $1 million more on litigation for a defendant sentenced to death than on one sentenced to life in prison â the death penalty is on the decline in the United States.