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Judicial Caseload Indicators - Federal Judicial Caseload Statistics 2021

Judicial Caseload Indicators
12-Month Periods Ending
March 31, 2012, 2017, 2020, and 2021
Judicial Caseload 2012 2017 2020 2021 Percent Change Since 2012 Percent Change Since 2017 Percent Change Since 2020
U.S. Courts of Appeals 1              
Cases Filed 56,624 58,951 50,258 46,165 -18.5 -21.7 -8.1
Cases Terminated 57,002 59,040 49,057 47,210 -17.2 -20.0 -3.8
Cases Pending 44,194 40,799 39,0142 37,979 -14.1 -6.9 -2.7
U.S. District Courts              
Civil              
Cases Filed 285,260 292,076 332,732 461,478 61.8 58.0 38.7
Cases Terminated 288,330 287,114 300,372 269,248 -6.6 -6.2 -10.4
Cases Pending 262,950 349,272 397,4922 590,288 124.5 69.0 48.3
Criminal (Includes Transfers)              
Defendants Filed 99,183 75,861 93,213 64,999 -34.5 -14.3 -30.3
Defendant Terminations 100,973 75,514 88,730 56,829 -43.7 -24.7 -36.0
Defendants Pending 107,805 97,411 114,174 121,490 12.7 24.7 6.4
U.S. Bankruptcy Courts              
Cases Filed 1,367,006 794,492 764,282 473,349 -65.4 -40.4 -38.1
Cases Terminated 1,385,725 877,908 788,373 632,815 -54.3 -27.9 -19.7
Cases Pending 1,641,889 1,094,295 989,1292 829,948 -49.5 -24.2 -16.1
Post-Conviction Supervision              
Persons Under Supervision 132,329 136,296 126,875 125,126 -5.4 -8.2 -1.4
Pretrial Services              
Total Cases Activated3 112,460 89,605 109,472 65,142 -42.1 -27.3 -40.5
Pretrial Services Cases Activated 111,533 89,056 109,036 64,823 -41.9 -27.2 -40.5
Pretrial Diversion Cases Activated 927 549 436 319 -65.6 -41.9 -26.8
Total Released on Supervision 30,044 23,338 26,598 23,545 -21.6 0.9 -11.5
Pretrial Supervision 28,715 22,579 25,951 23,036 -19.8 2.0 -11.2
Diversion Supervision 1,329 759 647 509 -61.7 -32.9 -21.3

1 Excludes the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
2 Revised.
3 Includes cases opened within the districts and cases transferred into the districts.