Last time, we reviewed the lag time data – grant of review to oral argument, and oral argument to decision – for the Court’s civil cases between 1993 and 2017.  Now, we’re turning our attention to the criminal docket.

Lag times for the criminal docket as a whole are skewed, of course, by the death penalty docket, so we’ll do this in three steps over three posts: (1) the overall numbers; (2) the death penalty numbers; and (3) non-death cases.  Overall, in 1993, criminal cases took 996.16 days from grant of review to oral argument, and a further 67 days to decision (as we’ve mentioned on the blog before, we’re currently using the appointment of counsel as a proxy for the grant of review in death penalty cases, since the Court reviews all death penalty judgments as a matter of right).  In 1994, cases took 706.05 days from grant to argument, and 58.98 days to decision.  In 1995, cases took 1,111.39 days from grant to argument, and 57.9 days to decision.  In 1996, cases required 1,031.45 days from grant to argument and 88.68 days to decision.  In 1997, cases were pending 1,091.5 days from grant to argument, and a further 68.82 days to decision.  In 1998, cases were pending 1,077.4 days from grant to argument, and 78.29 days to decision.  In 1999, the grant to argument lag time dropped sharply to 872.88 days.  Cases took 71.81 days from argument to decision.

In 2000, criminal cases required 1,118.93 days from grant to argument and 68.02 days to decision.  In 2001, grant to argument was down slightly to 1,015.9 days, and cases took 65.91 days from argument to decision.  In 2002, cases were pending 847.85 days from grant to argument, and 69.69 days from argument to decision.  In 2003, cases were pending 1,240.87 days from grant to argument, and 79.29 days from argument to decision.  In 2004, cases were pending 1,287.25 days from grant to argument, and 74.08 days to decision.  In 2005, grant to argument lag was up significantly to 1,689.57 days.  Cases took an additional 73.23 days to decision.

In 2006, cases averaged 1,583.3 days from grant to argument and 75.62 days to decision.  In 2007, the first number was down slightly to 1,502.44 days, and cases averaged 70.34 days to decision.  But in 2008, cases averaged 1,648.71 days from grant to argument, and 70.21 days to decision.  In 2009, grant to argument was flat at 1,620.9, and cases averaged 70.74 days to decision.  In 2010, cases averaged 1,511.37 days from grant to argument, and 70.19 days to decision.  In 2011, cases averaged 1,685.94 days from grant to argument, and 70.22 days to decision.

In 2012, criminal cases averaged 1,604.43 days from grant to argument, and 73.22 days from argument to decision.  In 2013, cases averaged 1,763.08 days from grant to argument, and 70.54 days to decision.  In 2014, grant to argument topped 2,000 days for the first time at 2,014.65 days, and cases averaged 69.69 days from argument to decision.  In 2015, cases averaged 1,800.23 days from grant to argument, and 71 days from argument to decision.

In 2016, grant-to-argument reached its highest level of the period – criminal cases averaged 2,420.85 days from grant to argument, and a further 77.17 days to decision.  Last year, the Court nearly succeeded in cutting that number in half, as criminal cases averaged only 1,380.29 days from grant to argument, and 81.74 from argument to decision.

Join us back here next week as we continue considering the data on the Court’s lag times.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Joe Wolf (no changes).