Main content

Judicial Caseload Indicators - Federal Judicial Caseload Statistics 2020

Judicial Caseload Indicators
12-Month Periods Ending March 31,
2011, 2016, 2019, and 2020
Judicial Caseload 2011 2016 2019 2020 Percent Change Since 2011 Percent Change Since 2016 Percent Change Since 2019
U.S. Courts of Appeals 1              
Cases Filed 55,753 53,648 47,977 50,258 -9.9 -6.3 4.8
Cases Terminated 58,349 53,673 48,515 49,057 -15.9 -8.6 1.1
Cases Pending 44,492 40,904 37,8132 39,014 -12.3 -4.6 3.2
U.S. District Courts              
Civil              
Cases Filed 294,336 274,552 286,289 332,732 13.0 21.2 16.2
Cases Terminated 324,190 270,515 307,368 300,372 -7.3 11.0 -2.3
Cases Pending 270,854 344,704 365,1322 397,492 46.8 15.3 8.9
Criminal (Includes Transfers)              
Defendants Filed 103,638 79,787 90,473 93,213 -10.1 16.8 3.0
Defendant Terminations 99,131 79,940 82,298 88,730 -10.5 11.0 7.8
Defendants Pending 110,756 97,131 110,115 114,174 3.1 17.5 3.7
U.S. Bankruptcy Courts              
Cases Filed 1,571,183 833,515 772,646 764,282 -51.4 -8.3 -1.1
Cases Terminated 1,512,011 947,587 795,926 788,373 -47.9 -16.8 -0.9
Cases Pending 1,659,874 1,199,518 1,013,2592 989,129 -40.4 -17.5 -2.4
Post-Conviction Supervision              
Persons Under Supervision 129,074 138,074 128,120 126,875 -1.7 -8.1 -1.0
Pretrial Services              
Total Cases Activated 114,067 93,649 104,579 109,472 -4.0 16.9 4.7
Pretrial Services Cases Activated 113,074 93,005 104,124 109,036 -3.6 17.2 4.7
Pretrial Diversion Cases Activated 993 644 455 436 -56.1 -32.3 -4.2
Total Released on Supervision 30,538 24,301 24,851 26,598 -12.9 9.5 7.0
Pretrial Supervision 29,216 23,372 24,187 25,951 -11.2 11.0 7.3
Diversion Supervision 1,322 929 664 647 -51.1 -30.4 -2.6
1 Excludes the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
2 Revised.