NCJ Number
165730
Date Published
1997
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This report presents information and statistics that show the state of the Arkansas judicial system and its work during the 1995-96 fiscal year.
Abstract
The report first reviews the characteristics and structure of the Arkansas court system. The court system consists of three tiers, each of which is separate and distinct in its jurisdiction, processes, and funding. The top tier is composed of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals. The second tier consists of circuit, chancery, and probate courts. Limited jurisdiction courts form the third tier. Information and data on the operation of the courts in each of the three tiers are presented in this report. Appeals filed in the Supreme Court totaled 548 in 1995-96, the same number filed in 1994-95. The number of appeals, petitions, and motions filed was 864, a 2- percent increase over the previous year. There were 297 appeals pending at the end of the fiscal year, an 18-percent increase over the previous year. An average of 697 days were required in criminal cases and 808 days in civil cases for an action to be filed in the trial court and a final decision to be reached in the Supreme Court; this is a slight increase from the previous year. With the approval of the expansion of the size of the Court of Appeals, an examination of the division of cases between the two appellate courts has begun. In the Court of Appeals, the number of filings totaled 1,077 cases, a 6-percent decrease from the previous year; however, appeal terminations for the year were 1,042 cases, an 11-percent increase. The backlog of cases has, for several years, had a negative effect on the amount of time required to process a case through the Court of Appeals. During 1995-96, the caseload in the trial courts continued a trend of many years of increase, growing by more than 2 percent. The caseload of municipal and city courts has also increased significantly in the last several years, particularly since the civil jurisdiction of municipal courts was raised from $300 to $3,000 in 1987.