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Case Processing
Description
BJS has sponsored periodic data collections on criminal trial and appellate litigation in state courts since 1986. BJS’s current collection is Criminal Cases in State Courts (CCSC), an effort to examine data on the processing of felony cases in state courts of general jurisdiction. The CCSC is collecting information on charges at initial filing and case termination, type of defense counsel, the race and sex of the defendant, how the case was terminated (e.g., dismissal, plea, or trial), and details on sentencing of convicted defendants.
Previously, BJS administered several different data collections on felony sentencing and case processing. These collections, while no longer active, provided important insights into the work of state courts.
From 1986 to 2006, the National Judicial Reporting Program (NJRP) collected felony sentencing data from a nationally representative stratified sample of state courts in 300 counties. Information included age, race, and sex, dates of arrest, conviction and sentencing data, and mode of conviction. Data were collected every 2 years during this period.
The State Court Processing Statistics data collection (formerly called the National Pretrial Reporting Program) was collected from 1988 to 2006 and again in 2009. SCPS provided data on the processing of persons charged with felonies in 40 jurisdictions representative of the nation’s 75 largest counties. These counties accounted for nearly half of all serious crime nationwide. The program tracked felony defendants from charging by the prosecutor until disposition of their cases (a maximum of 12 months for nonmurder cases and 24 months for murder cases). A wide array of data were obtained in SCPS, including:
demographic characteristics of defendants
arrest charges
criminal justice status of the defendant at the time of arrest
prior history of arrests and convictions
pretrial release and detention status
defendant's court appearance record
information on rearrests while on pretrial release, if applicable
type and outcome of adjudication
and type and length of sentence.
BJS is currently redeveloping this project.
In 2010, BJS funded studies of criminal appeals in state appellate courts. The third-party report, Criminal Appeals in State Courts, includes estimates of the number of criminal appeals resolved in state courts in 2010 by type of case, whether the state or the defendant petitioned the court, severity of the offense, level of appellate court (intermediate or last resort), and final outcomes. It tracked reversal rates for the top ten issues commonly addressed on appeal and reversal rates by the most serious offense in the underlying trial case. The report examined variations in case processing times by type of court and whether the court reviewed the case on its merits. It also compared death penalty appeals with other appeals cases on these factors.
In 2005 estimated $6 billion in compensatory and punitive damages was awarded to plaintiffs who won in civil trials. The median amount awarded to plaintiff winners in all trial cases was $28,000. Contract trials garnered higher median awards ($35,000), compared to tort trials ($24,000). About 10% of plaintiffs who won in general civil trials were awarded over $250,000 in total damages while about 4% were awarded $1 million or more.
Results from the Civil Justice Survey of State Courts, 2005, show that 61% of civil cases concluded by trial involved a tort claim in which plaintiffs alleged injury, loss, or damage from the negligent or intentional acts of defendants. Cases dealing with allegations of breach of contract (contract cases) accounted for 33% of trials, and real property cases accounted for about 6%. The most frequent kinds of civil cases disposed of by trial were motor vehicle accident (35%), seller plaintiff (11%), buyer plaintiff (10%), and medical malpractice (9%).
Overall, plaintiffs won in 56% of all tort and contract trials in 2005. The rate of plaintiff success varied according to the type of case litigated. Plaintiff win rates were not applicable to real property trials.
Plaintiffs were more likely to win in contract cases (66%) than in tort cases (52%). Mortgage foreclosure (89%), animal attack (75%), and seller plaintiff (75%) cases had the highest percentage of plaintiffs who prevailed. Plaintiffs won in over half of the trials for motor vehicle accidents (64%), employment discrimination (61%), and product liability (55%) cases, but prevailed in less than a third of medical malpractice (23%) cases.
