New NCSC report: State courts face record-breaking caseloads

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Contact: Sandy Adkins
Communications Specialist
National Center for State Courts
757.259.1515

New NCSC report: State courts face record-breaking caseloads

Williamsburg, Va. (Dec. 8, 2010) — When state legislatures come back to session in January, virtually all will be looking for ways to further cut state budgets. At the same time, state courts — where more than 95 percent of all cases are filed in the United States — are grappling with the largest caseload levels they’ve ever faced amid mandatory furloughs, closed courthouses, and reduced hours.

According to just-released data from the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), a record 106 million cases were filed in state trial courts in 2008, a 12 percent increase from 1999. The data, which is the most recent available on state court caseloads nationwide, is included in the latest edition of "Examining the Work of State Courts" from the Court Statistics Project, a joint effort of the Conference of State Court Administrators, Bureau of Justice Statistics, and NCSC.

Highlights from the free publication include the following:

Civil cases — likely spurred by the faltering economy — increased by 1.3 million, or 7 percent, in 2008, and are up 29 percent since 1999.
Domestic relations and criminal caseloads held steady in 2008, while juvenile caseloads actually declined by 5 percent.
The 2.2 percent increase in reported traffic and ordinance violations cases equaled that of the overall caseload increase, illustrating the significant impact that the 57.5 million traffic cases filed in 2008 had on the overall caseload total.

The following table shows the number of cases filed in the nation’s state courts in the last 10 years.

Year	Civil	Domestic	Criminal	Juvenile	Traffic	Total
2008	19,414,293	5,709,831	21,264,621	2,083,962	57,547,669	106,020,376
2007	18,098,660	5,681,114	21,435,054	2,155,175	56,286,938	103,656,941
2006	17,299,304	5,827,035	21,598,506	2,143,334	55,571,059	102,439,238
2005	16,710,679	5,775,314	20,826,547	2,125,812	55,316,422	100,754,774
2004	16,886,162	5,685,907	20,625,278	2,147,194	54,697,016	100,041,557
2003	17,157,947	5,601,780	20,610,676	2,118,614	54,743,291	100,232,308
2002	16,341,962	5,786,352	19,776,764	2,093,143	54,510,843	98,509,064
2001	15,771,247	5,502,313	19,046,402	2,155,742	53,069,167	95,544,871
2000	15,253,159	5,424,272	19,328,857	2,174,671	53,772,764	95,953,723
1999	15,030,169	5,286,843	19,451,419	2,176,896	52,924,066	94,869,393

The Court Statistics Project is a joint project of the Conference of State Court Administrators, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and the National Center for State Courts, and is supported by grants awarded by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Additional information on the Court Statistics Project is available at www.courtstatistics.org.

The NCSC Backgrounder is designed to provide the media with statistics and facts related to current issues of interest.

The National Center for State Courts, headquartered in Williamsburg, Va., is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the administration of justice by providing leadership and service to the state courts. Founded in 1971 by the Conference of Chief Justices and Chief Justice of the United States Warren E. Burger, NCSC provides education, training, technology, management, and research services to the nation's state courts.