This data collection provides detailed comparative information about the structure, policies, and procedures of statewide trial and appellate court systems for the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico as of July 1, 1998. Information gathered includes the number of courts and judges, judicial selection, governance of court systems, including judicial funding, administration, staffing, and procedures, jury qualifications and verdict rules, and processing and sentencing procedures of criminal cases.

Investigator(s): Bureau of Justice Statistics These surveys provide a broad-based, systematic examination of the nature of general civil litigation (e.g., tort, contract, and real property cases) disposed in a sample of the nation's 75 most populous counties. Data collection was carried out by the National Center for State Courts with the assistance of WESTAT. Data collected includes information about the types of civil cases litigated at trial, types of plaintiffs and defendants, trial winners, amount of total damages awarded, amount of punitive damages awarded, and case processing time. In addition, information was collected on general civil cases concluded by bench or jury trial that were subsequently appealed to a state's intermediate appellate court or court of last resort. The appellate datasets examine information on the types of civil bench and jury trials appealed, the characteristics of litigants filing an appeal, the frequency in which appellate courts affirm, reverse, or modify trial court outcomes and cases further appealed from an intermediate appellate court to a state court of last resort.

The purpose of this study was to provide a current listing of all felony courts in this country and to provide a universe from which a sample of courts could be selected based on felony caseload. The study includes information on all state felony courts in the United States, including the number of cases filed and disposed by conviction, acquittal, dismissal, or other means. Court administrators were asked to indicate the manner in which cases filed and disposed were counted, such as by defendant, charge, or indictment information. The total number of cases disposed during the period was also collected for juvenile delinquents and for traffic offenses (moving violations) where applicable. Finally, data were gathered on whether felonies reduced to misdemeanors were included in the felony count and whether lower courts in the jurisdiction accepted guilty pleas to felonies.

This data collection provides detailed comparative information about the structure, policies, and procedures of state-wide trial and appellate court systems for the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico in the United States as of June 31, 2004. Information gathered includes: the number of courts and judges, judicial selection, governance of court systems (including judicial funding, administration, staffing, and procedures), jury qualifications and verdict rules, and processing and sentencing procedures of criminal cases. Data collection was carried out by the National Center for State Courts.

This data collection provides detailed comparative information about the structure, policies, and procedures of state-wide trial and appellate court systems for the 50 states and the District of Columbia within the United States for the years 1980, 1987, 1993, 1998, 2004, and 2011. Information gathered includes: the number of courts and judges, judicial selection, governance of court systems (including judicial funding, administration, staffing, and procedures), jury qualifications and verdict rules, and processing and sentencing procedures of criminal cases. Data collection was carried out by the National Center for State Courts.

In October 1992, the Federal Judicial Center surveyed nearly all federal judges on a wide range of issues of concern to the federal courts. The survey was conducted for two purposes: to inform the deliberations of the Judicial Conference Committee on Long-Range Planning and to provide information for the Center's congressionally-mandated study of structural alternatives for the federal courts of appeals. Although the purposes were distinct, the areas of interest overlapped, resulting in a survey instrument that addressed many issues at differing levels of detail. The survey questions dealt with the nature and severity of problems in the federal courts, structure and relationships, jurisdiction size and resources, administration and governance, discovery, juries, criminal sanctions, deciding appeals in the current system, availability and compensation of counsel, and methods of civil dispute resolution.