A treasure-trove of data and information on our state court systems is contained in the recently-released State Court Organization, 2004. Moreover, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) makes available much of the source-data in user-friendly formats.
According to the good folks at BJS, the publication "presents detailed comparative data by State trial and appellate courts in the United States. Topics covered include: the number of courts and judges; process for judicial selection; governance of court systems, including judicial funding, administration, staffing, and procedures; jury qualifications and verdict rules; and processing and sentencing procedures for criminal cases. Diagrams of court structure summarize the key features of each State's court organization."
Ok, as far as I'm concerned, this is where the action is. State court systems have followed the pattern of other state institutions by greatly increasing their capacity by rationalizing their structures, just like other branches of state governments. Has this attracted much interest? Well, it has from me, but I'm switched if anyone else has seemed to have noticed. But, let's face it, as the federal courts have become less interested in expanding the scope of judicial action, state courts have become a focus for those who wish - and what attorney doesn't - to use the courts to win victories that the electoral arena doesn't offer. And, after all, this is where most cases of all sorts reach their final resolution. Consequently, this is the level where most of our attention should be focused: the level where the states power is applied and regulated by the courts.
Those interested can go to the NCSC website and see my recent paper. I have another ready, but it's in line with the paper from Hell. That comes first.
Posted by: Tracy Lightcap | 01 September 2006 at 09:31 PM