NCJ Number
49679
Date Published
1977
Length
41 pages
Annotation
THIS PROJECT ATTEMPTS TO MEASURE CASELOADS IN THE U.S. COURT OF APPEALS ACCURATELY AND OBJECTIVELY IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE THE EQUITABLE ALLOCATION OF JUDICIAL RESOURCES.
Abstract
THE PROJECT WAS INITIATED IN 1974 TO DEVELOP A METHOD FOR WEIGHTING APPELLATE COURT CASES AND PRODUCE WEIGHTED CASELOAD MEASUREMENTS FOR COURTS OF APPEALS. JUDGES FROM 3 UNNAMED COURTS OF APPEALS WERE ASKED FOR THEIR ESTIMATES OF THE RELATIVE WORKLOAD OR BURDEN ASSOCIATED WITH 23 CASE TYPES. THESE ESTIMATES, ALONG WITH JUDGE ESTIMATES OF THE TOTAL TIME SPENT WORKING ON CASES IN A YEAR, WERE THE DATA USED FOR ANALYSIS. WEIGHTING HAD VERY LITTLE EFFECT ON CASELOAD MEASUREMENTS. THE REASON FOR THE INEFFECTIVENESS OF WEIGHTING, AS EVIDENCED BY THE SIMILARITY OF CASELOAD MEASUREMENTS BASED ON WEIGHTED AND UNWEIGHTED CASE TERMINATIONS, WAS NOT DIFFICULT TO INFER: COURTS OF APPEALS HAVE VERY SIMILAR CASE DIFFICULTY DISTRIBUTIONS. WEIGHTING IS USEFUL IN RELATIVE CASELOAD MEASUREMENTS ONLY IF CASELOADS TO BE MEASURED HAVE DIFFERENT CASE DIFFICULTY DISTRIBUTIONS. APPELLATE COURT CASELOAD MEASUREMENTS SHOULD BE FOUNDED ON DATA RELEVANT TO THE VOLUME OF CASES HANDLED IN SUCH COURTS. APPELLATE COURT STATISTICAL REPORTING SHOULD BE REVIEWED AND PROBABLY REVISED SO THAT EACH REPORTED CASE EVENT REPRESENTS THE SAME ACTUAL EVENT IN EACH CIRCUIT. SUPPORTING DATA ARE PROVIDED. (DP)