You mentioned this only briefly: Population is not the only thing that has grown the count of trials. Law itself has expanded significantly. There are now many

You mentioned this only briefly: Population is not the only thing that has grown the count of trials. Law itself has expanded significantly. There are now many more crimes a person can be accused of. This is particularly evident in drug prohibition: possibly being in possession of a very small object (that isn't claimed by another person to be missing or stolen) is an incredibly low bar for crime accusation. An accusation of "sale or distribution" is even easier to construct! And we can see the result: 26% of arrests are for drug related crimes[1]. These cases aren't just being thrown out, either: 46% of prisoners in federal prison are there for drug related crimes[1]. That means their cases must have added to the number of trials other prisoners have to wait in line for. A high conviction rate also motivates law enforcement to pursue more of these arrests. By decriminalizing drug use, we could factor out a quarter of all arrests! That would surely present a significant decrease in wait times for trial. Are drug related crimes really so serious that we should continue to pursue them, even when that pursuit overwhelms the entire justice system? That seems incredibly irresponsible to me. [1] https://drugabusestatistics.org/drug-related-crime-statistics/ https://drugabusestatistics.org/drug-related-crime-statistic...