NCJ Number
73814
Date Published
Unknown
Length
61 pages
Annotation
A compilation of statistical, tabular, and narrative information regarding activities of the trial courts of Massachusetts during 1979 are presented; data from other years are included for comparison.
Abstract
The year 1979 marked the first full year of operation of the trial court established under the provisions of the Court Reorganization Act. During fiscal 1979, the district court department, the largest department of the trial court, received 788,190 criminal complaints; 75 percent of these were motor vehicle related. Department dispositions were up 2 percent over fiscal 1978 to 594,738, a level equal to 75 percent of criminal complaint entries for the year. Civil business expanded by 8,422 cases to 73,993 in 1979, a 13 percent increase over the previous year. Dispositions of civil cases rose by 30 percent from 39,077 in 1978 to 50,878 in 1979. The level of civil dispositions improved 9 percent during the year. Juvenile delinquency complaints underwent a modest 7 percent increase and totaled 40,359. Total cases entered in the land court department increased by 440 cases over the 1978 figure. A total of 7,857 cases were disposed of, an increase of 110 dispositions compared with 1978. At the start of the 1979 fiscal year, the superior court department had a pending workload of 103,064 civil and criminal cases. During the course of the year, an additional 45,334 cases were commenced. By disposing of 56,408 cases in 1979, the department reduced the pending caseload at year end to 91,009 cases, an 11 percent reduction in the department's backlog for the fiscal year. Tables and an appendix of budgetary data are included in the report.