Fact Sheet Identifies Trends in Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ Court Caseloads

by Melissa Green  |   

Analysis of state court system data shows a steady decrease in trial court filings for violent and property crimes, but an increase in weapons case filings.


The Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ Justice Information Center (AJiC) has released a new issue of the AJiC Fact Sheet, "" by Research Professional Yevgenii Kisarauskas. This research report presents data from the Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ Court System’s annual reports for the fiscal years 2007 through 2018, focusing specifically on case filings in state trial courts (the Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ Superior Court and Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ District Court) within this timeframe.

In its data analysis, AJiC found that the number of filings in Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ trial courts decreased steadily from FY 2007 to FY 2018, with violent and property crime filings either staying stable or decreasing. Other types of cases, such as public order cases, drug cases and DUI cases, also decreased. However, the analysis found that weapons cases increased by 24.7% at the misdemeanor level and 94.3% at the felony level.

The AJiC Fact Sheet is a series of brief reports that describe findings from the descriptive analysis of publicly available data relating to the Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ criminal justice and legal systems. The fact sheets are designed to assist with decision-making by practitioners and policymakers, and to provide a basis for further analysis. Previous AJiC Fact Sheet reports on a range of criminal justice topics can be found at the Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ Justice Information Center webpage.