Appellate Court Operations and Reversal Rates

• NCJ Number: 139462
• Author(s): T B Marvell
• Date Published: 1992
• Length: 17 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: State Justice Institute
• Corporate Author: Justec Research
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Report prepared for the Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, May 1992

Annotation

The impacts of caseload growth, delays, and unpublished opinions on reversal rates in appellate courts were examined using the Granger test, a commonly used econometric procedure for exploring causal direction when simultaneity bias is suspected.

Abstract

The Granger test was applied to data from five intermediate appellate courts for cases filed in 1971 to 1987, applying the fixed effects model, the standard regression procedure for pooled data. The courts were Division One of the Arizona Court of Appeals, the Colorado Court of Appeals, the New Mexico Court of Appeals, the Oregon Court of Appeals, and Division III of the Washington Courts of Appeals. The sample consisted of 2,094 criminal and 1,966 civil appeals in Arizona; 1,457 and 2,016 in Colorado; 2,311 and 2,043 in new Mexico; 1,800 and 2,248 in Oregon; and 1,418 and 2,539 in Washington. The data were aggregated according to court and year of filing, for a total sample size of 81 for criminal cases and 84 for civil. Results indicated that higher caseloads per judge lead to lower reversal rates in civil appeals. The data also indicated that reducing the portion of opinions published leads to lower reversal rates in criminal appeals, although the impact is slight. Tables and 10 references