Court backlog statistics show different patterns across jurisdictions. U.S. federal appeals and bankruptcy caseloads were lower than their 2015 levels by March and June 2024, while U.S. civil district-court cases remained substantially higher. In England and Wales, the Crown Court reached a series-high open caseload in September 2025, while county-court trial times improved in the final quarter of 2024.
Contents
- U.S. federal appeals backlog
- U.S. district-court civil and criminal cases
- U.S. caseload age and pending workload
- England and Wales Crown Court backlog
- Crown Court throughput and trial disruption
- England and Wales civil-court workload and delay
U.S. federal appeals backlog
The U.S. courts of appeals received 39,469 cases in the 12 months ending March 31, 2024. That was down from 40,681 in the comparable period a year earlier. The courts terminated 40,326 cases, compared with 41,908 in the prior year.
The pending appellate caseload was 31,531 cases on March 31, 2024, down from 32,375 a year earlier. This level was 23.3% below the 2015 level and 19.2% below the 2020 level. The figures describe cases pending on a specific date, rather than the average time an appeal took or the age of each pending case.
These measures should be read together. During the 12-month period ending March 31, 2024, terminations exceeded receipts, and the pending total was lower than a year earlier. That pattern indicates a smaller inventory at the reporting date, but it does not by itself establish how quickly every individual appeal was resolved.
Source: Judicial Caseload Indicators - Federal Judicial Caseload Statistics 2024.
U.S. district-court civil and criminal cases
Civil and criminal district-court measures moved in different directions in the 12 months ending March 31, 2024. The civil pending inventory increased, while the number of criminal defendants pending decreased.
| U.S. district-court measure | Result | Comparison period or change |
|---|---|---|
| Civil cases received | 347,991 | 22.4% above the prior year |
| Civil cases terminated | 298,371 | 12.0% below the prior year |
| Civil cases pending, March 31, 2024 | 633,066 | 8.5% above the prior year |
| Criminal defendants received | 66,035 | 4.2% below the prior year |
| Criminal defendants terminated | 71,854 | 1.7% below the prior year |
| Criminal defendants pending, March 31, 2024 | 113,511 | 4.5% below the prior year |
The civil pending total of 633,066 cases was 85.7% above the 2015 level. The criminal pending total of 113,511 defendants was 16.0% above the 2015 level. Those long-term comparisons are not directly interchangeable: one measures civil cases and the other measures criminal defendants.
The civil figures also show why receipts and pending inventory can tell different stories. In the period reported, civil receipts rose to 347,991 while civil terminations fell to 298,371. The resulting reporting-date inventory was higher than a year earlier. The criminal series had 71,854 terminations against 66,035 defendants received, and its pending total fell year over year.
Source: Judicial Caseload Indicators - Federal Judicial Caseload Statistics 2024.
U.S. caseload age and pending workload
The U.S. district-court national judicial caseload profile provides additional measures for the 12 months ending June 30, 2024. District courts had 724,209 cases pending on June 30, after receiving 431,025 cases and terminating 394,999 during the preceding 12 months. The national profile recorded 1,070 pending cases per judgeship.
Time-to-disposition and time-to-trial measures show that a pending case is not the same as a case awaiting trial. The median time from filing to disposition was 11.3 months for district-court felony cases and 8.1 months for district-court civil cases. For civil cases that reached trial, the median time from filing to trial was 35.0 months.
Age was especially concentrated in the civil inventory. District courts had 261,163 civil cases that were more than three years old on June 30, 2024. Those cases represented 41.7% of the civil pending caseload. This is a distinct aging measure from the median time to disposition: it counts cases in an age band at a reporting date, while the median describes the midpoint among cases disposed or reaching trial during the stated 12-month period.
The two U.S. reports use different reporting dates and measures. March 31, 2024 figures should not be combined with June 30, 2024 figures as if they were one snapshot. The June profile also includes a national pending-cases-per-judgeship measure, which is not a count of people or cases resolved during the year.
Source: United States District Courts — National Judicial Caseload Profile.
England and Wales Crown Court backlog
The Crown Court in England and Wales had 79,619 open cases at the end of September 2025, a series high. The total was 9% higher than the 72,849 cases open a year earlier and 2% higher than the previous quarter’s 78,096 cases. For a longer comparison, the open caseload stood at 38,105 cases at the end of 2019.
Age was also elevated. There were 20,155 Crown Court cases open for at least a year at the end of September 2025. These older cases made up 27% of the open caseload, and their number was 25% higher than a year earlier. The median age of an open case was 175 days, compared with 167 days in the previous quarter and 154 days a year earlier.
| Crown Court indicator | September 2025 result | Reference point |
|---|---|---|
| Open cases | 79,619 | Series high |
| Open cases for at least one year | 20,155 | 27% of open caseload |
| Median age of an open case | 175 days | 167 days in June 2025 |
| Open caseload | 79,619 | 72,849 in September 2024 |
| Open caseload | 79,619 | 38,105 in December 2019 |
The share of older cases varied by offence group. At the end of September 2025, 39% of fraud cases, 31% of sexual-offence cases, and 29% of miscellaneous-crimes-against-society cases had been open for at least a year. These percentages apply to the named offence groups and should not be treated as the proportion for every Crown Court case.
Source: Criminal court statistics quarterly: July to September 2025.
Crown Court throughput and trial disruption
The Crown Court received 30,358 cases in the third quarter of 2025, slightly below the 30,480 received in the previous quarter. Receipts had reached a quarterly series peak of 31,740 in the third quarter of 2024. The court disposed of 28,846 cases in Q3 2025, compared with 23,132 in Q4 2019.
Receipts differed by offence type as well. Crown Court receipts for rape offences reached 1,372 in Q3 2025, up 20% from a year earlier. This is a receipt measure, not a measure of completed trials or convictions.
Across calendar year 2025, the Crown Court recorded 114,406 disposals, compared with 114,188 in 2024. It recorded 29,956 trials in 2025, compared with 30,369 in 2024. Trial status mattered: effective trials represented 44% of Crown Court trials, cracked trials represented 31%, and ineffective trials represented 25%.
The three trial categories account for the reported 2025 trial mix. They also show why a trial count alone does not describe courtroom throughput: the figures distinguish trials that were effective from those that cracked or became ineffective. The annual trial data cover calendar year 2025, while the receipts and Q3 disposal figures cover July through September 2025.
Sources: Criminal court statistics quarterly: July to September 2025 and Criminal courts - Courts data - Justice Data.
England and Wales civil-court workload and delay
England and Wales county courts recorded 1.731 million claims during calendar year 2024, up 1% from 1.715 million in 2023. In October to December 2024 alone, county courts recorded 439,000 claims, up 9% from 403,000 in the same quarter of 2023.
Money and damages claims made up 390,000 of the 439,000 county-court claims in that quarter. Non-money claims numbered 49,000, up 6% from a year earlier. Mortgage and landlord possession claims reached 30,000, up 8% from 28,000 a year earlier.
The Civil National Business Centre processed and issued 361,000 money claims in October to December 2024, up 8% year over year. Claims valued under £500 numbered 171,000, up 12%, while claims valued over £5,000 numbered 35,000, up 14%.
Other workload measures also rose. Defended county-court claims numbered 69,000, up 3% from the same quarter in 2023, and county-court trials numbered 12,000, up 7%. County courts made 277,000 judgments, up 9%; default judgments accounted for 93% of those judgments.
Measured delay improved for cases reaching trial. The mean time from issue to trial for small claims was 50.0 weeks in October to December 2024, 5.7 weeks faster than a year earlier. For multi-track, intermediate-track, and fast-track claims, the mean was 78.0 weeks, 7.7 weeks faster than a year earlier.
Enforcement activity was lower in the same quarter: county courts issued 64,000 warrants, down 21% from 81,000 a year earlier. Warrants of control numbered 49,000, down 28% from 68,000. These enforcement counts, trial times, claims, and judgments measure different stages of civil-court activity and should not be added together.
Source: Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly: October to December 2024.