BJS: Bureau of Justice Statistics

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Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
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Home  | Data Collection Detail

Data Collection: Civil Justice Survey of State Courts (CJSSC)
Status: Active
Frequency: 1992, 1996, 2001, 2005
Latest data available: 2005

The Civil Justice Survey of State Courts (CJSSC) provides a broad, systematic investigation of the nature of civil litigation (i.e., tort, contract, and real property cases) disposed of in a sample of state general jurisdiction courts. Data collected includes information about the types of civil cases litigated at trial, types of plaintiffs and defendants, trial winners, amount of total damages awarded, amount of punitive damages awarded, and case processing time. The 2005 CJSSC marked the first time that the data collection examined general civil trials concluded in a nationally representative sample of urban, suburban, and rural jurisdictions. The prior data collections in 1992, 1996, and 2001 were designed so that inferences could be made about general civil trial litigated in the nation's 75 most populous counties.

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Collection Period

1992, 1996, 2001, 2005

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Documentation

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Methodology

The two-stage sampling design included 156 counties representative of the 75 most populous counties (for trending purposes) and the remainder of the nation. All civil cases disposed by jury or bench trial between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2005 in the sampled counties were included in the analysis.

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Changes Over Time
The 2005 CJSSC marked the first time that the collection examined general civil trials concluded in a nationally representative sample of urban, suburban, and rural jurisdictions. The prior data collections in 1992, 1996, and 2001 had focused on general civil trial litigation in the nations 75 most populous counties.

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Publications & Products

The following publications and products were generated by BJS using data from this collection.

Punitive Damage Awards in State Courts, 2005 Presents findings on civil trials concluded in 2005 in a national sample of state trial courts in which punitive damages were requested or awarded.
  PDF (537K) | ASCII file (27K) | Spreadsheet (Zip format 33K)


Civil Bench and Jury Trials in State Courts, 2005 "In 2005, less than 5 percent of plaintiffs who won in civil bench and jury trials received damages exceeding $1 million"
  Press Release | More information about this release


Civil Bench and Jury Trials in State Courts, 2005 Discusses general civil cases (tort, contract, and real property) concluded by a bench or jury trial in a national sample of jurisdictions in 2005.
  Press Release | PDF (290K) | ASCII file (34K) | Spreadsheet (Zip format 24K) | To order paper version


Punitive Damage Awards in Large Counties, 2001 Presents findings on civil trials concluded in 2001 in the Nation's 75 largest counties that produced a punitive damage award.
  PDF (521K) | ASCII file (7K) | Spreadsheet (Zip format 13K) | Codebooks and Datasets


Contract Trials and Verdicts in Large Counties, 2001 Presents findings on contract cases disposed by jury or bench trials in 2001 in the Nation's 75 largest counties.
  PDF (337K) | ASCII file (34K) | Spreadsheet (Zip format 60K) | Codebooks and Datasets
Part of the Contract Trials and Verdicts in Large Counties Series

Tort Trials and Verdicts in Large Counties, 2001 Provides findings about tort cases disposed of by jury and bench trial in general jurisdiction courts in the Nation's 75 largest counties during 2001.
  PDF (543K) | ASCII file (34K) | ZIP Format (Spreadsheet 37K) | Codebooks and Datasets | To order paper version
Part of the Tort Trials and Verdicts in Large Counties Series

Civil Trial Cases and Verdicts in Large Counties, 2001 Presents findings on tort, contract, and real property cases disposed by jury or bench trial in 2001 in the nation's 75 largest counties.
  Press Release | PDF (337K) | ASCII file (34K) | Spreadsheet (Zip format 60K) | To order paper version
Part of the Civil Trial Cases and Verdicts in Large Counties Series

Civil Rights Complaints in U.S. District Courts, 2000 Presents selected findings about civil rights cases in U.S. district courts that dealt with employment, housing, welfare, voting, or other civil rights issues between 1990 and 2000.
  PDF (42K) | ASCII file (4K) | Spreadsheet (Zip format 1K) | To order paper version
Part of the Civil Rights Complaints in U.S. District Courts Series

Tort Trials and Verdicts in Large Counties, 1996 Provides findings about tort cases disposed by jury and bench trial in general jurisdiction courts in the Nation's 75 largest counties during 1996.
  PDF (146K) | ASCII file (37K) | Spreadsheet (35K) | Codebooks and Datasets | To order paper version
Part of the Tort Trials and Verdicts in Large Counties Series

Contract Trials and Verdicts in Large Counties, 1996 Presents findings on contract cases disposed by jury or bench trials in 1996 in the Nation's 75 largest counties.
  Press Release | PDF (192K) | ASCII file (28K) | Spreadsheet (Zip format 33K) | Codebooks and Datasets
Part of the Contract Trials and Verdicts in Large Counties Series

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Related Topics

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