Excerpt from Annual Report of the Administrative Office of the Courts, 1974

Although there are a number of statistical indicators that may be used in evaluating court performance, there is no single barometer that gives a weighted average of all factors. The more obviousfactors to weigh in making year-to-year comparisons and relative rankings between counties and judicial districts are filings, disposi tions, and the number of cases pending at the end of the year. Other useful measures are the pending ratios (the relation that the number of cases pending at year's end bears to the number of cases disposed of during the year) and the rate of disposition (the percentage of the year's filings which were disposed of during the year). Low pending ratios and high rates of disposition are positive measures.

The statistics contained herein are case flow statistics and none are backlog or delay statistics. This report uses cases pend ing as one unit of analysis, but the term backlog will not be found herein and it is inaccurate to apply that term to the cases which are properly described as pending. A case which is pending may be two days or two years old. Backlog may be tentatively defined as those cases which have been pending disposition longer than an agreed upon standard of time for the average case of the same type in the same court. A delayed case would be any case which exceeded the agreed upon standard time-frame and such cases could also be described as backlogged. Even if an agreed upon standard time frame with supporting data was available, such data could only properly be used (as is the case with the data which is available) as a starting point for analysis. In any case, the Administrative Office does not now routinely collect data on the length of time required for the disposition of particular cases.

Whatever the unit of analysis, whether cases pending, delayed cases, or pending ratios, a number of questions must be asked once the raw data is available. At what point in time is the data stated? Cases pending, for example, are stated as of December 31, 197 4; are they generally higher during a holiday season? What effect do the customs and practices of the local bar have upon courtroom and trial delays? What are the policies of the court, the bar, and district attorneys with respect to continuances? Is ther a well thought out system for the calendaring of cases? Are pre-trial re lease procedures working effectively? Is the waiver procedure for motor vehicle cases fully utilized? Are continuances caused by court congestion or are they sought after by the parties? What effect do sentencing practices have upon the rate of criminal appeals between the District and Superior Courts? How much court was held in the district and how often? (in some counties there are no more than two weeks of Superior Court each year.) What are the geographical dimensions of the judicial district? Are seats of court distant from one another, requiring a great deal of travel time by court officials? Are there sufficient courtrooms available when needed? Are the courtrooms located and designed so as to permit efficient dispatch of the court's business? How many cases counted as pending areessentially dead cases and will ultimately be no! Prossed or dismissed? (it may in fact be customary strategy to file a civil action knowing at the time that the case will never be tried; similarly, it may be a good strategy for the district attorney not to nol pros a case, although knowing that it will never be tried.) What is the extent of plea bargaining in the district? What is the settlement rate in the district? Has there been any illness among court officials? Are there adequate investigatory resources? Are law enforcement and expert witnesses available when needed? The above list is not exhaustive but is illustrative of the types of questions that must be explored in analyzing the statistical data for each county and district.