Appellate Capacity and Caseload Growth

This article has two purposes. The first is to show that, indeed, the three categories of responses to caseload growth are the only feasible responses. This article argues that case-management techniques, another popular response, is of little or no use in reducing the substantial backlogs that result from the caseload growth. Instead of focusing on case management techniques one should focus on the judges - their number and their productivity - as sources of appellate court delay

The Effectiveness of Measures to Increase Appellate Court Efficiency and Decision Output

This Article will examine the effectiveness of measures commonly employed to increase appellate court productivity. Part I of the Article sets forth some common design problems and explains how the research technique employed in the present study avoids these problems by using a multiple time-series research design. Part II applies this design to state court data. Part II also describes the dependent variable, the number of appeals decided per judge, used in the regression analysis. Part III discusses the results of that analysis-the impact of each change listed above on judicial productivity. The Article, although not advocating the adoption of the discussed efficiency measures, concludes that the failure to enact any type of efficiency measure will cause appellate courts to fall behind in the handling of their caseloads

Homicide Trends 1947-1996: Short-Term Versus Long-Term Factors

This paper presents and analyzes homicide trends for 1947 to 1996 at the national, regional and state levels. National trends are compared to those for other crimes. Long-term trends usually differ greatly between series, but the short-term trends are usually similar. The latter probably results from powerful national factors that drive crime rates everywhere in the country in a similar manner, such as nationwide prison populations. The differences in long-term trends result from secular forces that have different impacts in different areas and for different crime types. For example, although homicide rates are highly correlated with other crime rates, they have grown hardly at all since 1947, whereas other crimes have experienced tremendous growth. A likely partial explanation is that improved emergency services mean that fewer assault victims die