NEWS RELEASE

Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts

Overall Federal Court Caseload, With Exception of
Bankruptcies, Climbed Slightly in 1999

The caseload of the federal courts continued to climb in fiscal year 1999, although at a slower rate than in the two previous fiscal years, according to the 1999 Judicial Business of the U.S. Courts, released today by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Overall, criminal and civil filings in the district courts increased. The number of pretrial services cases and the number of persons under supervision of the probation system also rose. Filings in the 12 regional courts of appeals increased due to a change in reporting procedure for original proceedings. Excluding original proceedings, appeals dropped. Bankruptcy petitions were the only filings to decline. However, with the exception of decreases in 1993 and 1994, bankruptcy filings have increased for nearly a decade and remain well above the one million mark.

The Judicial Business of the U.S. Courts can be found on the Judiciary's website at www.uscourts.gov.

Filings in the U.S. Courts of Appeals

Filings in the 12 regional courts of appeals increased 2 percent to 54,693. The increase was caused by changes in the reporting procedures during 1999 related to the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act and the Prison Litigation Reform Act. These changes caused a 349 percent surge in the total for original proceedings. In the courts of appeals, original proceedings are filed for the first time in the appellate courts; that is, they are not dependent on prior actions by lower courts or administrative agencies. Original proceedings include writs of mandamus or prohibition and other extraordinary writs.

Excluding original proceedings, total appeals filings declined 3 percent as filings of civil appeals fell 2 percent, criminal appeals fell 3 percent, bankruptcy appeals fell 8 percent, and administrative agency appeals fell 14 percent.

· Three of the 12 circuits reported overall increases in appeals.

· The reduction in civil appeals filings resulted from a 4 percent decrease in civil rights appeals and a 1 percent dip in prisoner petition appeals. The drop in prisoner petition appeals was due to a 17 percent reduction in motions to vacate sentence and a 10 percent decrease in prisoner civil rights appeals. Habeas corpus prisoner petition appeals rose 16 percent.

· Appeals involving pro se litigants rose 6 percent due to a 717 percent surge in pro se original proceedings, largely in response to the change in reporting procedures.

· Since 1995, filings of appeals (not including original proceedings) have risen 4 percent.

Filings in the U.S. District Courts

Criminal Case Filings

Filings of criminal cases rose 4 percent from 57,691 to 59,923 in 1999, the highest number since 1933, when the Prohibition Amendment was repealed. This followed a 15 percent jump in criminal cases in 1998. In 1999, the combined filings of cases in the three largest criminal categoriesdrugs, fraud, and immigrationaccounted for 60 percent of all criminal case filings, the same proportion as in 1998. However, the proportion of drug and immigration case filings rose and that of fraud case filings decreased.

· Drug case filings climbed 7 percent to 17,483, while the number of drug defendants increased 4 percent to 30,671.

· Immigration case filings in the overall criminal caseload climbed 14 percent to 10,641, while the number of immigration defendants filed grew 13 percent to 11,461. The majority of immigration cases were filed in district courts along the southwestern border of the U.S.

· Five southwest border districts, the District Courts for the Districts of Arizona and New Mexico, the District Courts for the Western and Southern District of Texas, and the District Court for the Southern District of California, received 27 percent of all criminal cases filed in the U.S. in 1999. This was attributable mostly to the large numbers of immigration and drug trafficking cases.

· Overall, fraud cases filings declined 8 percent.

· Weapons and firearms case filings surged 20 percent from 3,641 to 4,367, and filings of defendants in such cases increased 15 percent from 4,441 to 5,114. These represent record highs for filings for these offenses and resulted in part because U.S. attorneys prosecuted in the federal courts defendants identified by state and local law enforcement agencies.

The number of defendants in criminal cases grew 2 percent from 79,008 to 80,822. The median case deposition time for criminal defendants rose from 5.6 months in 1998 to 5.9 months in 1999, probably because of the increased workload imposed by the large number of cases courts received in 1998.

Civil Case Filings

Civil filings in the U.S. district courts rose 1 percent in 1999 to 260,271. The overall increase in filings of civil cases was related primarily to a rise in cases with the U.S. as plaintiff. In 1999, filings of cases with the U.S. as a party increased 13 percent from 57,852 in 1998 to 65,443.

Filings with the U.S. as plaintiff rose 33 percent as a result of a 54 percent jump in cases related to the recovery of overpayments and enforcement of judgments. Student loan recovery filings rose 56 percent, because of debt collection procedures implemented by the U.S. Department of Education.

Filings with the U.S. as defendant remained essentially stable, dropping less than 1 percent. This decrease was related to a 4 percent reduction in social security cases and a 9 percent decline in motions to vacate sentence filed by federal prisoners. Social security disability insurance and supplemental security income filings dropped 6 percent and 3 percent, respectively. Motions to vacate sentence fell by 535 cases. The declines were largely offset by a 55 percent jump in federal habeas corpus filings.

· Federal question jurisdiction declined 1 percent, mainly because filings of personal injury cases decreased 14 percent, with product liability filings (mostly breast implant cases) declining 58 percent. However, habeas corpus petitions filed by state prisoners increased 9 percent.

· Diversity of citizenship filings fell 4 percent as a result of a large reduction in personal injury/product liability litigation involving breast implant cases.

Bankruptcy Filings

Bankruptcy filings in the Judiciary's fiscal year 1999 totaled 1,354,376, down 6 percent from the 1,436,964 bankruptcy filings for fiscal year 1998. With the exception of decreases in 1993 and 1994, bankruptcy filings have increased for nearly a decade. The reduction most likely resulted from last year's lower interest rates, low unemployment, and continued general economic prosperity, which enabled consumers to pay their debts more easily. Decreases in bankruptcy filings were seen in both nonbusiness and business petitions, which fell 5 percent and 18 percent, respectively. Drops also were reported in filings under all chapters, except for Chapter 11, for which filings rose 2 percent.

Probation and Pretrial Services

On September 30, 1999, the total number of persons under supervision of the probation system was 97,190, a 4 percent rise over the number reported as of September 30, 1998. This year, persons under supervision for drug offenses increased 6 percent.

Persons serving terms of supervised release following their release from prison grew 8 percent. Overall, persons serving terms of supervised release made up 61 percent of all persons under supervision, compared to 58 percent one year earlier. Parole cases dropped 11 percent, and those involving mandatory release fell 10 percent. Probation officers prepared 192,904 investigative reports in 1999, a rise of 3 percent over last year.

In 1999, the number of defendants in cases activated in the pretrial services system increased 2 percent, to 80,154, consistent with the growth in criminal filings in district courts. Pretrial services officers (PSOs) interviewed 59,542 defendants and prepared 76,657 pretrial reports. In 1999, the number of defendants released increased 1 percent to 36,213. Of those released, 85 percent were placed into the custody of PSOs, and 91 percent were released with restrictive conditions. The most frequently ordered restrictive conditions involved substance abuse testing and treatment and were imposed on 22 percent of activated defendants. House arrest and electronic monitoring were ordered for 7 percent of defendants.