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Stalking the Increase in the Rate of Federal Civil Appeals

Carol L. Krafka, Joe S. Cecil, Patricia A. Lombard
January 1, 1995

This report concludes that the increase in civil appeals has resulted mainly from the increased volume of litigation in the district courts. The growth in appellate caseloads has been principally attributable to increasing rates of appeal in prisoner actions and, to a lesser extent, civil rights cases. No evidence of an across-the-board increase in the likelihood of appeal was detected. This report is reprinted at 18 Justice System Journal 233.