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1 Marika F. X. Litras, Civil Rights Complaints in U.S. District Courts, 1990-98 1 (2000)

handle is hein.agopinions/civrcusd0001 and id is 1 raw text is: U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Revised 2/22/00 january zuuu, i,4u I matt Federal Justice Statistics Program Civil Rights Complaints in U.S. District Courts, 1990-98 By Marika F. X. Litras, Ph.D. BJS Statistician In 1998 plaintiffs filed over 250,000 civil complaints in U.S. district courts. In about 42,000 of these cases the plain- tiff filed a complaint involving a civil rights-related issue such as discrimina- tion in employment, housing, welfare benefits, or voting rights. These civil rights-related cases (which exclude prisoner petitions) increased from 9% of all Federal civil cases in 1990 to 17% in 1998. This report is part of a BJS series which describes civil cases filed in the Federal courts. Previously, BJS has reported findings about civil rights pri- soner petitions filed by Federal and State inmates' and tort trials in Federal courts.2 Data on civil rights-related cases handled in criminal courts can be found in the annual BJS Compen- dium of Federal Justice Statistics. The number of civil rights-related com- plaints increased between 1990 and 1998 during which time Federal civil rights laws expanded. New laws en- acted during the 1990s include the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, and the 'Prisoner Petitions in the Federal Courts, 1980- 96, (NCJ 164615). 2Federal Tort Trials and Verdicts, 1996-97 (NCJ 172855). Number of civil rights complaints as a portion of all civil cases filed in U.S. district courts, 1990-98 300,000 250,000 200,000 150,000 100,000 50,000 O 1990 1992 Between 1990 and 1998 the number of cases in which plaintiffs sought civil remedies related to dis- crimination in employment, housing, welfare, voting, or other civil rights issues more than doubled from 18,793 to 42,354. * The growth of civil rights cases has been due largely to the increase in employment cases between private parties. * The Federal Government was involved as a plaintiff or defendant in about 7% of civil rights-related complaints in 1998 - down from 13% in 1990. * Between 1990 and 1998 the per- centage of civil rights-related 199 4 1996 1998 complaints terminated by trial verdict dropped from 8% to 5%, while dis- missals increased from 66% to 71%. * Of the civil rights-related complaints terminated by trial verdict between 1990 and 1998, the percentage deci- ded by a jury increased from 48% to 77%. * Plaintiffs won just under a third of civil rights trials on average between 1990 and 1998. * Of the civil rights trial verdicts won by plaintiffs, the percentage awarded monetary damages declined from 83% in 1990 to 76% in 1998. * In 1998 median plaintiff awards ranged from $137,000 in employment cases to $65,000 in housing cases.