The 396 district courts in the State experienced an increase in the number of new cases filed during the reporting year, from 542,425 in 1996 to 555,385. The number of new criminal cases filed increased 0.4 percent above 1996 filings, civil cases decreased 4 percent, and juvenile cases increased 38 percent. Civil cases accounted for 466,956 or 65 percent of all cases added during the fiscal year. Family law matters other than divorce actions comprised the largest segment of civil cases added, with 38 percent of civil case additions. Divorce actions constituted 27 percent, damages and personal injury cases (including workers' compensation) comprised 9 percent, tax cases comprised 12 percent, and disputes over debts made up 4 percent.

Juvenile cases (Title 3 of the Texas Family Code) accounted for 36,554, or 5 percent of the total cases added in the district courts.

 Criminal cases constituted 213,667, or 30 percent, of the total new cases added during the year. Of the criminal cases, 13 percent involved a charge of theft (including auto theft), 11 percent burglary, 4 percent robbery, 1 percent homicide (including capital murder), 12 percent assault (including sexual assault of a child and of an adult), 6 percent felony DWI, 30 percent drug offenses, and 3 percent were misdemeanor cases. Of the new criminal cases filed in district courts, 14 percent were by information, and 86 percent were by indictment.

Urban Filings

The number of total cases added to the docket in the ten most populous Texas counties increased 5,834 cases (1 percent) in state fiscal year 1997 above the number of filings during 1996. In all other counties, the number of cases added increased 2 percent. These ten most populous counties (Harris, Dallas, Bexar, Tarrant, El Paso, Travis, Hidalgo, Nueces, Denton, and Collin) had over 55 percent of the state's population and 57 percent of the total cases added during the fiscal year.

 Total cases added increased in Bexar County (6 percent), Collin County (7 percent), Denton County (5 percent), Harris County (6 percent), Hidalgo County (20 percent), and Travis County (2 percent). Decreases in total filings occurred in Dallas County (4 percent), El Paso County (10 percent), Nueces County (5 percent), and Tarrant County (4 percent).

Criminal cases added to the docket increased 4 percent in the ten urban counties during fiscal year 1997 as compared to 1996. This compares to 6 percent increase in criminal filings for all other counties of the State. Criminal filings increased in seven of the ten urban counties: Bexar (9 percent), Collin (5 percent), Dallas (5 percent), Denton (10 percent), El Paso (31 percent), Hidalgo (30 percent), and Travis (2 percent). Counties reporting a decrease in criminal cases added to the docket were Harris (0.8 percent), Nueces (16 percent), and Tarrant (1 percent).

Civil cases added decreased 0.7 percent in the ten most populous counties and increased 1 percent in the remaining counties of the State. Six counties reported increases in civil filings: Bexar (3 percent), Collin (7 percent), Denton (4 percent), Harris (8 percent), Hidalgo (16 percent), and Travis (0.5 percent). Decreases in civil filings occurred in Dallas County (8 percent), El Paso County (22 percent), Nueces County (0.1 percent) and Tarrant County (6 percent).

During the fiscal year, the district courts disposed of 101 percent of the total criminal and civil cases added to their dockets, compared to 99 percent in 1996. The district courts in the ten most populous counties disposed of 102 percent. In all other counties of the State, 99 percent were disposed. Statewide, 98 percent of the criminal cases and 102 percent of the civil cases added to the dockets were disposed of during the year.

In the ten most populous counties the disposition rate of criminal cases averaged 100 percent of cases added, ranging from 83 percent in Hidalgo County to 110 percent in Bexar County. The disposition rate of criminal cases for the rest of the State averaged 95 percent of those added to the docket.

Comparable figures for civil cases show an average disposition rate of 103 percent in the ten urban counties and a 101 percent disposition rate in the rest of the State. The range in the ten urban counties was from 72 percent in Hidalgo County to 128 percent in El Paso County.

An average of 1,821 cases per judge statewide were disposed of during the year, compared with 1,752 per judge during 1996.

Of all civil cases disposed, 24 percent were by non jury trials, and approximately 47 percent of these non jury trials were in divorce cases. Of the civil cases disposed, 36 percent were family law cases including show cause motions but not divorces. Of all civil cases, 12 percent were dismissed for want of prosecution, and 16 percent were dismissed at the request of the plaintiff.

The defendant entered a plea of guilty in 37 percent of the criminal cases disposed. Including these pleas, the defendant was convicted in 39 percent of the cases and acquitted in less than one percent. In 14 percent of the criminal dispositions, the defendant was placed on deferred adjudication. Dismissals accounted for 17 percent of disposed cases. Of these dismissals, 10 percent were because of insufficient evidence, 9 percent were because the case was refiled, and 23 percent because the defendant was convicted in another case.

In the cases in which the defendant pleaded not guilty and which were disposed of by jury verdicts, the defendant was found guilty in 81 percent of the cases and was acquitted in 19 percent. In trials before the judge alone on not-guilty pleas, convictions resulted in 56 percent of the cases and acquittals in 44 percent.

Among the criminal cases, the categories with the highest rate for disposition by conviction was were felony DWI and capital murder with 63 percent. The highest rate of disposition by dismissal was for sexual assault of an adult with 28 percent. The lowest rate of dismissal was for felony DWI with 9 percent.

Of the 209,355 criminal cases disposed by the district courts, 32 percent were disposed of in a period of less than two months from the date of indictment or information, 11 percent took two to three months, 9 percent took three to four months, and 48 percent took over four months.

Of juvenile cases handled by the district courts, a finding of delinquent conduct or conduct indicating a need for supervision (CINS) was entered in 59 percent of the cases disposed. In one percent of the cases, the juvenile was found not to have engaged in the proscribed conduct. Probation was continued in 6 percent of the cases and revoked in 3 percent of the cases. Dismissals and other dispositions occurred in 31 percent of the cases disposed.

District courts handled one percent less divorce actions during 1997 than during 1996. During the fiscal year, 123,765 divorce cases were disposed, 26 percent of all civil (non-juvenile) cases handled by district courts. Eighteen percent of divorce cases were dismissed.

Tax cases tend to stay on the docket for long periods of time compared to other categories of cases. This fiscal year, 31 percent of the tax cases filed during the year or carried over from the previous year were disposed of by the district courts, two percent more than in fiscal year 1996. Approximately 53 percent of tax case dispositions were either dismissed for want of prosecution or by the plaintiff.

District courts disposed of 4 percent less personal injury-type cases during 1997 than during 1996. Twenty percent of the personal injury-type cases ended in agreed judgments, and 32 percent were dismissed by the plaintiff.

Of the 477,217 civil dispositions during the year, the courts disposed of 27 percent of the cases in under three months, 20 percent in three to six months, 19 percent in six to twelve months, 11 percent in twelve to eighteen months, and 23 percent over eighteen months.

The 547,966 civil cases pending in the district courts on August 31, 1997 represent a 2 percent decrease over the 559,646 pending on August 31, 1996. Criminal cases pending increased 3 percent, from 177,236 to 182,391.

Thirty-four death sentences (compared to 40 in 1996) and 498 life sentences were assessed in the district courts during the year.