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Civil Justice Survey of State Courts (CJSSC)
Data Collection Status
Inactive
Frequency
1992, 1996, 2001, 2005
Latest Data Available
2005
Data Experts
Suzanne Strong, PhD, BJS Statistician
Collection Period
1992, 1996, 2001, 2005
Description
The Civil Justice Survey of State Courts (CJSSC) provided 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. See supplemental Survey of Civil Appeals.
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.
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.
