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Judicial Caseload Indicators — Judicial Business 2021

Judicial Caseload Indicators
12-Month Periods Ending September 30, 2012, 2017, 2020, and 2021
Judicial Caseload 2012 2017 2020 2021 Percent Change Since 2012 Percent Change Since 2017 Percent Change Since 2020
U.S. Courts of Appeals1              
Cases Filed 57,5002 50,506 48,190 44,546 -22.5 -11.8 -7.6
Cases Terminated 57,570 54,347 48,300 47,748 -17.1 -12.1 -1.1
Cases Pending2 43,588 39,384 38,754 35,552 -18.4 -9.7 -8.3
U.S. District Courts              
Civil              
Cases Filed 278,442 267,769 470,581 344,567 23.7 28.7 -26.8
Cases Terminated 271,572 289,901 271,256 271,625 0.0 -6.3 0.1
Cases Pending2 271,141 366,195 556,646 629,588 132.2 71.9 13.1
Criminal (Includes Transfers)              
Defendants Filed 94,121 77,018 73,879 74,465 -20.9 -3.3 0.8
Defendant Terminations 97,728 75,337 71,625 63,848 -34.7 -15.3 -10.9
Defendants Pending2 107,703 100,505 115,398 126,258 17.2 25.6 9.4
U.S. Bankruptcy Courts              
Cases Filed 1,261,140 790,830 612,561 434,540 -65.5 -45.1 -29.1
Cases Terminated 1,304,4322 856,750 721,251 579,469 -55.6 -32.4 -19.7
Cases Pending2 1,624,606 1,070,118 906,641 761,709 -53.1 -28.8 -16.0
Post-Conviction Supervision              
Persons under Supervision 132,340 134,731 126,970 122,458 -7.5 -9.1 -3.6
Pretrial Services              
Total Cases Activated 3 109,242 88,750 80,603 76,723 -29.8 -13.6 -4.8
Pretrial Services Cases Activated 108,273 88,255 80,242 76,367 -29.5 -13.5 -4.8
Pretrial Diversion Cases Activated 969 495 361 356 -63.3 -28.1 -1.4
Total Released on Supervision 29,195 23,186 23,396 26,622 -8.8 14.8 13.8
Pretrial Supervision 27,829 22,469 22,857 26,037 -6.4 15.9 13.9
Diversion Supervision 1,366 717 539 585 -57.2 -18.4 8.5
1 Excludes the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
2 Revised.
3 Includes cases opened within the districts and cases transferred into the districts.
Judicial Business 2021
  1. Judicial Business 2021
  2. Judicial Caseload Indicators
  3. Judicial Business 2021 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