New York Courts introduce online caseload dashboard to boost transparency

The new website shows that Brooklyn’s courts are as busy as ever

March 22, 2024 Robert Abruzzese, Courthouse Editor

Kings County Supreme Court, Civil Term, bustling with activity as filings rebound to 28,771 in 2023 from a 2020 low, with the court managing a total of 60,237 pending cases.
Brooklyn Eagle photo by Rob Abruzzese

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In a move meant to enhance accessibility and transparency, the New York State Unified Court System announced a new online dashboard on Thursday that offers comprehensive insights into caseload trends across state trial courts.

This tool is designed to provide the public, including legal professionals, with detailed information on court activities, including filings, dispositions, pending cases and trials commenced.

“With the steadily increasing interest in caseload trends data, the newly launched Trial Court Caseload Trends Dashboard offers researchers, legislators, court users and others easy access to this valuable information,” said Chief Administrative Judge Joseph Zayas. “We are indebted to the court system’s Division of Technology and Court Research for their skillful efforts in the development and implementation of this dynamic addition to the court system’s online data toolbox.”

The Trial Court Caseload Trends Dashboard encompasses a wide range of courts, such as the local Criminal Court, Supreme Court-Criminal Term, County Court-Criminal Term, local Civil Court, Supreme Court-Civil Term, County Court-Civil Term, Family Court and Surrogate’s Court.

Users can easily navigate through the dashboard to filter data by case and disposition types or by specific court locations. The inclusion of data from 2019 allows for an analysis of caseload trends over time, with monthly updates ensuring the most current information is available for year-to-year and year-to-date comparisons.

First Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Norman St. George also expressed enthusiasm for the new resource.

“We are pleased to announce this latest resource as the court system continues to add to its online tools in providing the public ready access to crucial information relating to trial court operations, both locally and across the state,” St. George said. “Tools such as this new interactive dashboard are essential as we endeavor to demystify the important work of the New York State courts.”

A quick look at the filings shows each court’s trends since 2019, providing a good snapshot of how COVID impacted the courts. In Brooklyn, there were 47,234 local criminal filings in 2019. That number dropped to 25,545 in 2020 and has since increased to 46,857 local criminal filings in 2023.

The website shows that the Kings County Supreme Court, Civil Term is perhaps busier than ever. According to the website, there were 28,520 filings in the court in 2019. After dropping to a low of 21,800 in 2020, it has since gone up to 28,771 filings in 2023, with a total of 60,237 total pending cases.