The more detailed STATE COURT CASELOAD STATISTICS provides much information to anyone who is interested in the state courts. It includes in-depth descriptions of court system structures, which vary considerably, even among states that perhaps are otherwise very similar. The descriptions include the number and types of general and limited jurisdiction trial and appellate courts along with a description of the types of cases the courts are authorized to hear (although these descriptions of court jurisdiction are fairly general). It also provides information on the number of trial and appellate judges and the types of courts in which they serve for each state.
The primary focus of STATE COURT CASELOAD STATISTICS, of course, is on the numbers and types of cases filed and decided in the courts of each state. The categories used to classify cases include civil, criminal, juvenile, and traffic/other. Some subcategories are also presented such as tort, felony criminal, etc., although this presentation is somewhat limited. At the appellate level, cases filed and decided in intermediate appellate courts and courts of last resort are presented. These are broken down according to the type of jurisdiction, mandatory or discretionary, under which they are filed or decided. Data on docket clearance rates are reported for both trial and appellate courts. Comparable statistics for earlier years (from 1986 forward) are provided in many tables.
EXAMINING THE WORK OF STATE COURTS presents especially interesting findings, comparisons, and trends, and presents these in a nontechnical way. A series of topics is covered in a fairly coherent format; i.e., civil cases, then criminal cases, etc., but this book is not a seamless narrative on the work of state courts. Instead, short sections focus on specific topics such as jury awards, punitive damages, domestic violence case filings, etc. There are useful data on civil case filings and settlements, crime reports, arrests, guilty pleas, and dispositions in criminal cases. Important trends such as the decrease in DUI/DWI cases and the increase in domestic violence cases and drug cases are identified. Again, however, this book is not a systematic overview of state court workloads, nor does it provide extensive discussion of some very important findings.
Both books provide useful discussions of methodological issues. The
most important of these, of course, are issues of definition and description
of cases and case types, data collection methods, completeness of reporting,
and comparability of data across courts and states and over time. While
these issues can never be dealt with in a wholly satisfactory way, I am
convinced by the authors' descriptions of their efforts in these areas
that these data are the most complete and comparable data available. It
is also clear that efforts toward improvement in case definition and description,
data collection, and completeness and comparability of data continue to
be made.
These books will be useful to the student of judicial politics and
to the state politics scholar. Anyone who is writing or updating a judicial
process text or the courts chapter of a state politics reader or who is
preparing a class lecture on the courts will find the interesting comparisons
and emerging trends identified in EXAMINING THE WORK OF STATE COURTS very
helpful in attracting readers and engaging students' attention. The information
in these books will allow the author or lecturer to support general assertions
with specific information, data, and statistics. In addition, anyone beginning
a research project involving state courts will find the descriptions of
court system structure, caseloads, and jurisdiction in STATE COURT CASELOAD
STATISTICS highly valuable. These two books make a useful contribution
to our knowledge of the work and activities of state courts in their own
right. Equally important, in my view, they enhance our ability to disseminate
that knowledge to other researchers, to our own students, and to the larger
society. They are valuable resources for the state courts community.