Examining the Work of State Courts

In October the National Center for State Courts released Examining the Work of State Courts, 2005: A National Perspective from the Court Statistics Project.* If you're interested in the American legal system, this is a treasure trove.

The questions "How many?", "What proportion of the total?", and "How do states compare?" are answered for many, many categories: trials, settlements and other dispositions, jury trials, bench trials, civil cases, domestic relations cases, protection orders, probate cases, criminal cases, appeals, and more!

Examining the Work of State Courts has been a statistical staple for years. The online version now offers extra features -- for instance, you can click on a logo by a chart or table to get an Excel spreadsheet with all the data.

Here are samples of the sort of charts that are available. First, a comparison of the mix of civil cases -- contract, tort, property, and other. Isn't it surprising that the states vary so much? (I circled Washington in red.) Would the people who talk about how much tort litigation swamps our courts be surprised by the high proportion of contracts cases?

p. 25.


Here's one comparing rates of clearing felonies:
p. 48.

Graphics used with permission.

*Full citation is: R. Schauffler, R. LaFountain, S. Strickland & W. Raftery
Examining the Work of State Courts, 2005: A National Perspective from the Court Statistics Project (National Center for State Courts 2006)