Description
Slow court case processing is a significant concern, particularly in regard to their adverse implications for survivors of serious crimes such as domestic abuse and sexual assault. This study investigates a number of factors that may influence the duration of court case proceedings using court records from three Minnesota counties. Focusing on cases of domestic violence, sexual assault, kidnapping, harassment, stalking, and various other sex crimes, we employ survival analysis methods to explore the effects of various factors on the duration of court case processing. Our analysis considers the effects of factors such as type of crime, form of legal representation, judge, and various defendant characteristics. Our goal is to identify major factors that contribute to delays in court proceedings, providing helpful insight for advocacy groups and crime victims about what they can expect during trial. We find significant differences in completion durations between counties and between crimes charged. However, when we adjust for differences between judges such as the number and complexity of cases assigned to them, there is no evidence of county differences.
Publication Date
4-17-2024
Keywords
Court proceedings--Statistics; Judicial statistics; Justice, Administration of--Minnesota
Disciplines
Applied Statistics | Legal Studies | Survival Analysis
Recommended Citation
Meyers, Gabrielle and Anderson, Jon, "Legal Process Durations in Domestic Violence Cases" (2024). Undergraduate Research Symposium 2024. 6.
https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/urs_2024/6