National Survey of Court Organization, 1971-1972

The purpose of this study was to document the existing organization of courts in the 50 states and the District of Columbia as of 1971-1972. The survey covers all appellate courts, courts of general jurisdiction, special courts, and other courts of limited jurisdiction. Excluded were justices of the peace and similar magistrates whose compensation is solely on a direct fee basis, and courts of limited or special jurisdiction located in municipalities or townships with a 1960 population of less than 1,000. The data for courts include information on the organization of the court, geographic location, type of court, level of government administering the court, number, types, and full- or part-time status of judicial and other personnel, method of appealing cases, location of court records, and types of statistics. Court subdivision variables cover organization of the courts, geographic location, type of court, level of government administering the court, types of jurisdiction, percentage of judges' time spent on types of cases, availability of jury trials, and length of sentence and amounts of fines which may be imposed by the court.