NCJ Number
95111
Date Published
Unknown
Length
9 pages
Annotation
In 1983, more than 800 million cases were filed in State trial courts; more than 70 percent of these were traffic cases.
Abstract
Of the 57 million traffic filings, over 43 million were filed in States that did not distinguish between parking violations and other traffic offenses. Data from States able to report for both 1978 and 1983 reveal that civil filings increased nearly 20 percent and criminal filings increased 23 percent. Nationwide, the annual rate of increase for civil cases was slightly less than 4 percent, and for criminal cases, slightly more than 4 percent. Among States there is a wide variation in changes over the 5-year period, with some States showing caseload declines and others showing increases of more than 100 percent. Large increases in appellate filings are occurring in almost every State. This increase may be related to the increased opportunity to appeal in States that have an intermediate appellate court, have expanded the jurisdiction of the appellate court, added judges to existing appellate courts, or created new judgeships for the appellate court. These statistics are taken from a survey of States in October and February 1983 and from the followup questionnaire. Interstate comparisons may be difficult, because data for some States do not include all of the courts. More detailed information about each jurisdiction's court structure as well as operating and reporting procedures is needed. Two references are included.