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Reports & Studies

Below is a list of a number of past published studies conducted by the Research Division. Some Center reports are not published or made publicly available due to restrictions in place from the source of the research request. Most research reports can be downloaded and in some instances, a hardcopy publication can be requested. See also Manuals, Monographs, & Guides.

Displaying 81 - 90 of 337
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Judgeship Creation in the Federal Courts: Options for Reform

An early review of various procedures used by state legislatures and judiciaries to create judgeships. In light of those procedures, the author analyzes the federal judgeship creation process and suggests alternatives to it. These alternatives involve delegation to the federal judiciary of some portion of the judgeship creation authority, with appropriate checks to ensure judicial accountability and legislative control.

January 1, 1981
Experimentation in the Law: Report of the Federal Judicial Center Advisory Committee on Experimentation in the Law

The committee examined the ethical and legal problems posed by experimentation with innovative programs and procedures in the justice system. The report offers guidance to justice system administrators to help ensure that needed experimentation is pursued in a manner commensurate with fundamental ideals of the system of justice. The report presents a comprehensive approach to addressing the need for experimentation as a means for improving the operation of the justice system and describes the ethical and legal constraints on such experimentation.

January 1, 1981
Sentencing Options of Federal District Judges [Superseded]

A description of the statutory sentencing alternatives in the federal courts. Addressed primarily to newly appointed district judges, the report relates sentencing alternatives to the policies of the agencies that carry out the sentences, particularly the Bureau of Prisons and the Parole Commission.

Superseded by Sentencing Options of Federal District Judges (1983).

January 1, 1981
Administrative Structures in Large District Courts

An early comparative analysis of management styles in the fifteen metropolitan district courts. The report is based on personal interviews with chief judges, clerks of court, and other judges and circuit personnel. It describes the many administrative tasks courts face and the various arrangements they have devised to perform those tasks.

January 1, 1981
Computer-Aided Transcription: A Survey of Federal Court Reporters' Perceptions

A survey of the experiences of official federal court reporters using computer-aided transcription (CAT) technologies. The study reports mixed evaluations of the relative costs and benefits of CAT. The paper also presents the reporters' views on increased use of CAT in the federal courts and on alternatives to CAT.

January 1, 1981
Eighth Circuit Expediting Project: Final Report

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January 1, 1981
An Evaluation of Limited Publication in the United States Courts of Appeals: The Price of Reform

A 1981 examination of plans for limited publication of opinions in the federal courts of appeals. The report reviews the background of publication plans, analyzes the relation between the language of the plans and the publication rates of the circuit courts, empirically assesses the costs and benefits of limited publication, and offers a model rule for publication.

Reprinted from 48 University of Chicago Law Review 573 (1981).

January 1, 1981
Small-Group Decision Making and Complex Information Tasks

A report on a search of the psychological literature for information about the competence of jurors to find the facts in complex, protracted civil trials. The author noted that little research had focused directly on this issue and concluded that in legal fact-finding in complex civil trials, groups had advantages over individuals as decision makers.

January 1, 1981
A Comparative Study of Jury Selection Systems: An Empirical Analysis of First-Class Versus Certified Mail for Service of Summons and Simultaneous Versus Separate Delivery of Summons and Qualification Questionnaire

An analysis of the benefits that might derive from district courts- altering their juror selection procedures. Two procedures are examined: (1) using regular first-class mail rather than certified mail for delivery of juror summonses and (2) delivering the juror qualification questionnaire and summons together rather than at separate times. Given that the conclusions of the study were mixed, the report recommends that the Jury Selection Act be amended to permit either or both procedures at the option of the individual district.

January 1, 1981
Disqualification of Federal Judges by Peremptory Challenge

An analysis of statutory procedures proposed in the early 1980s, and which continue to arise, that would allow federal litigants to challenge, on a peremptory basis, the federal judge or magistrate judge assigned to their case. Prepared at the request of the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules, the report discusses the proposals that have been offered on the federal level, analyzes the procedures then in effect in seventeen state court systems, and considers the possible administrative consequences of a federal peremptory challenge procedure.

January 1, 1981

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