Today, we’re reviewing the data for the average length of time party briefing in death penalty cases take – the lag time from filing of the opening brief to filing of the reply.

The average wait was 237.65 days in 1990, 334.92 in 1991, 399.5 in 1992, 354.12 in 1993, 323.43 in 1994 and 344.4 days in 1995. It rose to 726.38 days in 1996 but then fell to 490.21 days in 1997. The average was 459.46 days in 1998 and 558 days in 1999.

The average length of briefing was 522.4 days in 2000, 574.09 in 2001, 566.5 in 2002, 574.5 in 2003 and 558.19 days in 2004. In 2005, briefing averaged 481.38 days. It rose to 562.21 days in 2006. The average was 503.74 days in 2007, 601.27 days in 2008 and 617.4 days in 2009.

Party briefing averaged 690 days in 2010, 717.12 in 2011, 843 days in 2012 and 818.5 days in 2013. In 2014, the average was 967.91 days. In 2015, it was 944.81 days. In 2016, it was 883.39 days. In 2017, it was 865.45 days. In 2018, the average was 927.95 days. So far this year, the average has been 771.47 days.

Join us back here next Thursday as we continue to review the data for the Court’s death penalty cases.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Ed Menendez (no changes).