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Year-End Report on the Judiciary

NCJ Number
82378
Author(s)
W E Burger
Date Published
1981
Length
32 pages
Annotation
This 1981 year-end report on the judiciary by the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court covers judicial workload and productivity; the litigation explosion; judges, support staff, and automation; the judicial system as a whole; and cooperation among governmental branches.
Abstract
The section on judicial workload and productivity notes the continued increase in Federal case filings, with district court filings increasing 7 percent over the last judicial year, the court of appeals filings increasing 14 percent, and Supreme Court cases docketed increasing 4.7 percent. Judicial productivity has increased 31.7 cases per judgeship over the previous judicial year. Concern is expressed that the quality of justice may suffer as the volume of cases handled per judge increases further. The discussion of the litigation explosion considers the costs of litigation, improving the use of juries, dealing wth the problems of protracted civil litigation, the quality of litigation and lawyer competence, and alternatives to litigation. Topics considered in the section on judges, support staff, and automation include the quality of judges, judicial compensation, provision for the selection of district court executives in pilot court programs, and the use of Courtran in Federal courts, which involves computer applications for case management and administrative support. The overview of the judicial system as a whole focuses on organization, the need for new judges, jurisdiction, rulemaking, State court developments, and criminal justice and corrections. The consideration of cooperation among governmental branches treats communication and legislation. Plans for the bicentennial of the Constitution are also mentioned.