WORKLOAD OF U.S. MAGISTRATES (FROM 1977 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR

13-16, 174-181)

MAGISTRATES

During the year which ended on June 30, 1977, the overall workload of United States magistrates continued to increase. The more time-consuming “additional duties" performed by magistrates under authority of 28 U.S.C. 636 (b) increased by 32 percent over the fiscal year 1976, from 75,894 to 100,318. The volume of such proceedings, moreover, was 49 percent above the 67,230 conducted during the fiscal year 1975, 67 percent above the 60,072 conducted during the fiscal year 1974, nearly 95 percent above the 51,517 of the fiscal year 1973 and 124 percent above the 44,717 of the fiscal year 1972, the first of nationwide operation of the magistrate system.

The 103,061 petty and other minor offense cases disposed of by magistrates in the year ending June 30, 1977 were 14 percent more than the 90,166 handled during the fiscal year 1976. The total number of petty and other minor offense cases disposed of in the year ending June 30, 1977 was 43 percent higher than the 72,082 handled in the fiscal year 1972.

The number of preliminary proceedings conducted by magistrates in felony criminal cases during the year ending June 30, 1977 declined by three percent to 83,357 from 86,084 in the fiscal year 1976, due largely to a general decrease in felony prosecutions, changes in procedures brought on by the Speedy Trial Act, and continuing refinements in the magistrates statistical reporting system. The current total is less than the reported volume of 103,326 preliminary proceedings in the fiscal year 1975; 100,152 in the fiscal year 1974; 115,121 in the fiscal year 1973; 120,723 in the fiscal year 1972.

The number of pre-commitment proceedings in criminal cases conducted by United States magistrates during the year ending June 30, 1977 decreased by three percent from 1976-down from 86,084 to 83,357. Applications for arrest warrants considered by magistrates fell by nine percent, from 22,531 in 1976 to 20,467 in the year ending June 30, 1977. Search warrant applications fell by 14 percent, from 6,068 to 5,203 over the same period. The number of bail hearings, including those on material witnesses and alleged probation violators and applications for review of bail determinations, increased by three percent, from 48,616 in 1976 to 50,302 in the year ending June 30, 1977. Preliminary examinations conducted by magistrates decreased by 23 percent, from 7,142 in 1976 to 5,502 in 1977, while removal hearings rose by nine percent, from 1,727 to 1,883.

The number of matters disposed of by United States magistrates during 1972, and 1975, 1976, 1977, as well as the percentage changes from 1976 to 1977 appears in the analysis of the workload of the courts which follows. An additional table showing the number of minor offense cases disposed of by United States magistrates for 1972, 1975, 1976 and 1977, classified by nature of offense, also appears in the analysis of the workload as does a table showing the ten districts with the largest number of minor offense cases disposed of by magistrates during the year ending June 30, 1977.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTS

"ADDITIONAL DUTIES" PERFORMED

BY U.S. MAGISTRATES UNDER 28 U.S.C. 636(b)

U.S. MAGISTRATES

As noted in the Director's report (supra) additional statistics and commentary will be provided in these pages.

The workload of the U.S. Magistrates during the year ended June 30, 1977 has continued to increase and can be best illustrated by the table which presents the volume of matters disposed of by U.S. magistrates during the years ended June 30, 1972, 1975, 1976 and 1977.

United States magistrates now assist the district judges in expediting civil and criminal litigation in the great majority of the 92 district courts covered by the Federal Magistrates Act. During the year ended June 30, 1977, for example, magistrates in 67 districts filed written reports and recommendations for disposition of 8,515 prisoner petitions. Magistrates conducted 22,787 civil pretrial conferences for the judges in 66 district courts. In 64 districts they reviewed 17,687 motions in civil cases. During the year magistrates in 52 districts submitted 546 special master reports under Rule 53 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In addition, in 36 districts magistrates conducted 325 civil trials, upon the consent of the parties. They filed reports and recommendations on 3,449 Social Security appeals in 59 districts.

In criminal cases magistrates conducted 21,799 arraignments following indietment under Rule 10 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure in 82 districts. They conducted 4,787 pretrial conferences or omnibus hearings in 35 districts and reviewed 7,301 motions in 68 districts.

MINOR OFFENSE CASES

Magistrates disposed of 103,061 minor offense cases, including petty offenses, during the year ending June 30, 1977. The total was 14 percent more than the peak of 90,166 cases handled in 1976 and 22 percent more than 84.505 cases handled in 1975, 25 percent more than the 82,705 cases handled in 1974, and 43 percent more than the 72,082 handled in 1972.

Of the total, 85,880 were petty offense cases, the largest volume of such proceedings reported in any year to date. The caseload of 1977 was 9 percent greater than the 78,474 handled in 1976, 17 percent greater than the 73,102 handled in 1975, 20 percent greater than the 71,463 handled in 1974, 18 percent above the 72.746 disposed of in 1973, and 36 percent greater than the 62,915 handled in 1972. The increase in petty offense cases in the year ending June 30, 1977 occurred despite continuing improvements and refinements in the statistical reporting system and the spreading use of collateral forfeiture procedures which permit the disposition of many petty offenses without appearance before a federal judicial officer.

The 13,231 immigration (illegal entry) petty offenses disposed of by magistrates in the year ending June 30, 1977 represented a decrease of less than 1 percent over the 13,273 handled in 1976, but an increase of 19 percent over the 11,147 handled in 1975 and 35 percent above the 9,798 immigration cases handled by magistrates in 1972. It was, however, still 16 percent less than the peak of 15,824 cases disposed of in 1974 and 5 percent less than the 13.986 in 1973. There were 6,511 petty offenses charging violations of hunting, fishing or camping regulations during the year ending June 30, 1977-12 percent more than the 5,837 disposed of in 1976.

Of the total number of minor offenses disposed of by magistrates during the year, 17,181 were above the level of petty offenses-47 percent more than the 11,692 handled in 1976 and 51 percent above the 11.403 terminated in 1975. This volume was 45 percent more than the previous peak of 11.834 cases handled during 1973, and 87 percent more than the 9,167 handled in 1972. About 73 percent, or 12,478, of the minor offense cases involved serious traffic violation charges such as driving while intoxicated. The other categories of minor offense cases above petty offenses experienced a general decrease during the year ending June 30, 1977.

The accompanying figure shows the number of minor offense cases disposed of by United States magistrates for 1972, 1975, 1976 and 1977, classified by nature of offense:

TABLE 47.-MINOR OFFENSE DEFENDANTS DISPOSED OF BY U.S. MAGISTRATES, BY NATURE OF OFFENSE, FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1972, 1975, 1976 AND 1977

TABLE 48.-MATTERS DISPOSED OF BY U.S. MAGISTRATES FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1972, 1975,

1 Statistics for probation appearances and final probation revocation for 1975 were combined.

Of the 103,061 minor offense cases handled by magistrates last year, 20 percent were disposed of following a trial on merits, while 68 percent were terminated upon a plea of guilty by the defendant. The remaining 12 percent of the

minor offense cases were terminated through dismissals in open court by the magistrates. 81 percent of the defendants who appeared before magistrates were convicted, including 52 percent in those cases in which a full trial was conducted.

During the year the Federal Probation System received 5,678 defendants for supervision following conviction by United States magistrates. This represents an increase of 6 percent from the 5,358 defendants received for supervision in 1976, a decrease of 3 percent over the 5,853 in 1975, an increase of 70 percent over the 3,351 in 1974, an increase of 154 percent over the 2,237 in 1973, and an increase of 278 percent over the 1,501 defendants received for supervision in 1972.

The ten districts with the largest number of minor offense cases disposed of by magistrates during the year ending June 30, 1977 are set out below:

TABLE 49.-DISTRICTS WITH HIGHEST NUMBER OF MINOR OFFENSES DISPOSED OF BY MAGISTRATES FOR YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1977

The number of pre-commitment proceedings in criminal cases conducted by United States magistrates during the year ending June 30, 1977 decreased by 3 percent from 1976-down from 86,084 to 83,357. The number of such proceedings was also 31 percent less than in 1972. This decline was, in large part, attributable to an overall drop in the number of felony prosecutions initiated over that period in the district courts by the Department of Justice. The decrease is also due in part to changes in court procedures, such as the conduct of arraignments by magistrates. This procedure permits the combining of some bail hearings with the arraignment; thus, a separate bail hearing is not counted in the statistics.

Applications for arrest warrants considered by magistrates fell by 9 percent, from 22,531 in 1976 to 20,467 in the year ending June 30, 1977. Search warrant applications fell by 14 percent, from 6,068 to 5,203, over the same period. The number of bail hearings, including those on material witnesses and alleged probation violators and applications for review of bail determinations, increased by 3 percent, from 48,616 in 1976 to 50,302 in the year ending June 30, 1977. Preliminary examinations conducted by magistrates decreased by 23 percent, from 7,142 in 1976 to 5,502 in 1977, while removal hearings rose by 9 percent, from 1,727 to 1,883.

WORK PERFORMED BY FULL-TIME AND PART-TIME MAGISTRATES

The full-time magistrates who were on duty during the year ending June 30, 1977 disposed of 213,154 matters during the year-over 74 percent of the total matters handled by magistrates nationally. The remaining 73,582 matters were handled by the part-time magistrates.

The full-time magistrates conducted 79 percent of the preliminary proceedings in criminal cases, disposed of 53 percent of the minor offense cases, and handled 92 percent of the "additional duties" performed during the year. The figure below shows the breakdown of matters handled by full-time magistrates vis-a-vis part-time magistrates in 1977.

At least two full-time magistrates have been authorized in each of the 25 largest district courts, and the extent to which these full-time officers have been used and the types of matters disposed of are shown in the accompanying figure.