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Judicial Caseload Indicators — Judicial Business 2020

Judicial Caseload Indicators
12-Month Periods Ending September 30, 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 Appeals1              
Cases Filed 55,126 60,357 48,486 48,190 -12.6 -20.2 -0.6
Cases Terminated 57,357 57,744 47,889 48,300 -15.8 -16.4 0.9
Cases Pending 43,6142 43,2412 38,8412 38,731 -11.2 -10.4 -0.3
U.S. District Courts              
Civil              
Cases Filed 289,252 291,851 297,877 470,581 62.7 61.2 58.0
Cases Terminated 303,158 271,649 311,900 271,256 -10.5 -0.1 -13.0
Cases Pending 267,4952 361,2632 357,0412 556,366 108.0 54.0 55.8
Criminal (Includes Transfers)              
Defendants Filed 102,931 77,357 92,678 73,879 -28.2 -4.5 -20.3
Defendant Terminations 101,454 77,493 85,650 71,625 -29.4 -7.6 -16.4
Defendants Pending 111,968 98,460 113,987 115,398 3.1 17.2 1.2
U.S. Bankruptcy Courts              
Cases Filed 1,467,221 805,580 776,674 612,561 -58.3 -24.0 -21.1
Cases Terminated 1,461,896 910,122 788,667 721,251 -50.7 -20.8 -8.5
Cases Pending 1,667,2472 1,135,3232 1,015,4682 906,738 -45.6 -20.1 -10.7
Post-Conviction Supervision              
Persons under Supervision 129,780 137,410 128,904 126,970 -2.2 -7.6 -1.5
Pretrial Services              
Total Cases Activated 3 113,875 91,709 108,606 80,603 -29.2 -12.1 -25.8
Pretrial Services Cases Activated 112,969 91,111 108,163 80,242 -29.0 -11.9 -25.8
Pretrial Diversion Cases Activated 906 598 443 361 -60.2 -39.6 -18.5
Total Released on Supervision 30,337 23,592 26,116 23,396 -22.9 -0.8 -10.4
Pretrial Supervision 29,004 22,735 25,463 22,857 -21.2 0.5 -10.2
Diversion Supervision 1,333 857 653 539 -59.6 -37.1 -17.5
1Excludes the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
2Revised.
3Includes cases opened within the districts and cases transferred into the districts.
Judicial Business 2020
  1. Judicial Business 2020
  2. Judicial Caseload Indicators
  3. Judicial Business 2020 Tables
  4. U.S. Courts of Appeals
  5. U.S. District Courts
  6. U.S. Magistrate Judges
  7. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation
  8. U.S. Bankruptcy Courts
  9. Criminal Justice Act
  10. Post-Conviction Supervision
  11. Pretrial Services
  12. Complaints Against Judges
  13. Status of Article III Judgeships
  14. Status of Bankruptcy Judgeships
  15. Status of Magistrate Judge Positions and Appointments
  16. U.S. Court of International Trade
  17. U.S. Court of Federal Claims