NCJ Number
75247
Date Published
1980
Length
139 pages
Annotation
Judicial workload statistics for the 12-month period ended Dec. 31, 1979, are presented for the U.S. Court of Appeals, U.S. district courts, other Federal courts, and the Federal probation system.
Abstract
During this period, case filings in the U.S. Court of Appeals rose to 21,680, an increase of 10.8 percent over the previous year. Case dispositions also increased to 19,049, a 5.1 percent higher rate than that the year before. In 1979, 2,631 more cases were filed than were closed. These combined with an already sizable backlog to expand the pending caseload by 15.1 percent to 20,034. During this same period, a total of 162,469 civil cases were filed in the district courts, an increase of 12.5 percent over the 144,400 cases filed during the same period the previous year. Similarly, the number of cases terminated rose 12.1 percent over 1978. Despite the significant increase in terminations, the pending civil caseload continued to rise, increasing 6.4 percent from 173,100 in 1978 to 184,104 in 1979, to make the largest pending caseload in the history of the district courts. However, criminal cases prosecuted in the U.S. district courts continued a downward trend, with total filings dropping to 30,106, a 10.3-percent decrease compared to a year earlier. Cases pending in the criminal dockets declined 4.3 percent compared to the previous year. In addition, grand jury activity increased in the 6-month period from July 1, 1979, to December 31, 1979; the total number of grand jury sessions rose by 5.6 percent. The report provides 24 data tables for these courts and the U.S. bankruptcy courts, the Federal probation system, the U.S. magistrates, and the Federal public/community defenders. In addition, more detailed statistical data are appended.