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Research & Statistics FAQ's

All Trial Courts throughout the state submit statistics to the Supreme Court of Nevada, Administrative Office of the Courts.  The following information is intended to help all Nevada trial courts with some of the issues and questions they have on statistical reporting.  If you have questions that are not resolved by the information below or by the USJR data dictionary, you can email your question to the Research and Statistics Unit at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

1.    Why does the Supreme Court require USJR statistical reporting? 

2.    Where can I find the forms, dictionaries, and worksheets for reporting USJR statistics?

3.    Where can I find statistics that have been published for prior years?  

4.     I keep hearing about different phases of statistics, what does that mean?

5.    I manually do all my statistics.   Do I have to report every statistic on the worksheets?

6.    Can I fix a mistake in a prior months report? 

7.    Can I submit statistics quarterly or at the end of the fiscal year? 

8.    On the USJR Phase II criminal worksheet, where do I count a disposition when the case has two different charge types?  (e.g. One crime against person, and one drug.)

9.    The USJR Phase II criminal worksheet requests information on continuances.  What examples fall under “court need?”

10. How do I report stipulated continuances on the USJR Phase II criminal additional worksheet?

11. Are traffic case-type dispositions counted by the number of charges in USJR Phase II forms?  

12. A third DUI offense is filed in justice court, where an arraignment is held, and the case is bound over to the district court.  At the district court, the charges are amended down to a second offense, and the case is remanded down to justice court for the adjudication of charges.  The question is where and who counts the USJR statistics on the case? 

13. There is no Nolle Prosequi (before prelim).  How do we properly count those cases where the decision to not prosecute the case is made before the preliminary hearing? 

14. Can I email you the USJR statistical reports instead of faxing or mailing them?

15. The USJR statistical reports I am submitting have errors on them.  How do I fix them?

16. I just received an e-mail or packet of information from the AOC-Research and Statistics Unit with the last 6 months/1 year of USJR reports from my court.  What do I do with it? 

17. I just don’t understand how to get all this information and report it in these confusing reports. I am thinking of just ignoring them so they go away.  Can I do that?  

18.  The defendant is deceased how do I dispose of the case?

19. We are cleaning up our cases.  How do I dispose/adjudicate all these cases that should have been closed years ago? 

 

Frequently Occurring Statistical Reporting Errors


 

 

Frequently Occurring Statistical Reporting Errors


Frequently Asked Questions

 

1.    Question:  Why does the Supreme Court require USJR statistical reporting? 

 

Answer:  The Supreme Court of Nevada issued an order in July 1999 requiring all courts to submit statistics to the Administrative Office of the Courts.  NRS 1.360 requires the State Court Administrator to collect the Uniform System for Judicial Record statistics.

Caseload statistics can be used to inform the public, and local and state governments about the work of the courts.  Additionally, this allows researchers and persons seeking data to contact the AOC for information thereby reducing the number of requests for information received by individual courts.

 

2.    Question:  Where can I find the forms, dictionaries, and worksheets for reporting USJR statistics?

 

Answer: Forms, dictionaries, and worksheets can be found on the Supreme Court website in the Research and Statistics documents.

 

3.    Question:  Where can I find statistics that have been published for prior years? 

 

Answer:  Statistics are reported monthly, compiled on a fiscal year basis, and are released in the “Annual Report of the Nevada Judiciary.”  All annual reports can be found on the Supreme Court Website at www.nevadajudiciary.us. If you need specific information not found in the reports, or would like several years of specific data, requests can be made by emailing the Research and Statistics Unit at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

4.    Question:  I keep hearing about different phases of statistics, what does that mean? 

 

Answer:  In 1999, when the Uniform System for Judicial Records (USJR) was implemented, it was planned to be completed in phases with the ultimate goal of collecting all the necessary information to analyze the workload of the courts.  Understanding the limitation on resources and technologies it was agreed that the USJR statistical model would be implemented in phases with each phase requiring additional detailed statistics.  In 2007, the AOC began work on implementing phase II of the USJR statistics.  Criminal type statistics where chosen to be the first case type for phase II because it needed the most improvement, is requested most often, and completing it would ease implementing phase II for all other case types.  In July 2009, phase II criminal changes were implemented and all courts were required to report.  The appendix tables for The Annual Report of the Nevada Judiciary for fiscal year 2010 include the phase II statistics for criminal cases. 

 

In time, phase II will extend to family and juvenile statistics as well as civil statistics.  Many phases will be needed over many years to obtain all the information necessary to analyze the entire workload of the courts.

 

5.    Question:  I manually do all my statistics.  Do I have to report every statistic on the worksheets?

 

Answer: Courts that count their statistics manually do not have to provide all required information.

On the criminal caseload worksheet, rows 2, 2a, 3, 5a, 5b (New Filings, Charges, Reopened, Original and Reopened Dispositions) are the only fields that will be required for courts that count statistics manually.

 

On the criminal disposition worksheet, all rows are required and courts should do their best to report all the requested information.

 

All statistics requested on the Civil, Family, and Juvenile worksheet should be completed to the best of your ability. 

 

If you are continuously struggling with capturing and reporting information because of your lack of resources or technology, please contact the AOC-Research and Statistic Unit for further guidance. 

 

6.    Question: Can I fix a mistake in a prior month’s report?

 

Answer:  Statistics can be corrected at anytime by providing a revised worksheet.   Corrections can also be made by changing the information sent to each court during quality assurance reviews every 6 months. 

 

7.    Question:  Can I submit statistics quarterly or at the end of the fiscal year instead of monthly?

 

Answer:  We strongly encourage all courts to provide monthly reports in accordance with the Supreme Court Order.  Some exceptions have been made for courts facing serious resource issues, but those exceptions are rare.  In addition, monthly submissions allow us to review reports regularly and catch errors or irregularities in reporting before they become large problems. 

 

8.    Question: On the USJR Phase II criminal worksheet, where do I count a disposition when the case has two different charge types?  (e.g., One crime against person, and one drug. )

 

Answer:  Dispositions should be reported according to the hierarchies established on the phase II criminal worksheet and defined in the USJR Data Dictionary (pgs. 10 and 13).  Please be mindful that we are measuring the disposition of the case, not the specific charge of the case type.

(EXAMPLE:  The crimes against persons charge was dismissed before trial and the drug charge was disposed of as a guilty plea with sentence (before trial).  The disposition would be reported as guilty plea with sentence (before trial) in the crimes against persons column.)

 

9.    Question: The USJR Phase II criminal worksheet requests information on continuances.  What examples fall under “court need?”

 

Answer:  “Court need” continuances are those where a respective judge continues the case for additional time to review issues or information in the case and that the continuance is due to the courts own needs rather than a request from a specific party in the case.

 

10. Question:  How do I report stipulated continuances on the USJR Phase II criminal additional worksheet?

 

Answer:  A stipulated continuance should be reported under who requested the continuance. If it is unclear who is asking for the continuance, report it under whoever drafted the stipulation. If needed, use the “other” row as a last resort to count these.

 

11. Question: Are traffic case-type dispositions counted by the number of charges in USJR Phase II forms? 

 

Answer: No, traffic is no longer counted by charge, only by case. This allows us to determine clearance rates and make appropriate determination for pending caseloads. Charges are still being measured (row 2a), but are no longer used when reporting dispositions.  Please see question 8 for determining how to count dispositions.

 

12. Question:  A third DUI offense is filed in Justice Court, where an arraignment is held, and the case is bound over to the District Court.  At the District Court, the charges are amended to a second offense, and the case is remanded to Justice Court for the adjudication of charges.  The question is where and who counts the USJR statistics on the case?

 

Answer: Several different counts will be reported in this example. (e.g., filings, dispositions, and remands appear on the case and are subsequently reported by the courts.) 

 

The initial filing of the third DUI complaint is counted in Justice Court as a new filing under the "Felony Motor Vehicle DUI" case-type column on the caseload worksheet.  In addition to the new filing, the charge should be counted in the appropriate row under the same column.  Once the case is bound over, the case disposition is then entered on the disposition worksheet as "Bindover" under the "Felony Motor Vehicle DUI” column by the Justice Court. 

 

The District Court then reports the new filing of the case on the caseload worksheet as a "Felony Motor Vehicle DUI" when they receive the information, so long as it still indicates the third DUI offense.  Once again, the charge should also be counted on the appropriate row under the "Felony Motor Vehicle DUI" column.  Once the case is amended to a second DUI, and remanded to Justice Court, the District Court should enter a disposition of the case on the disposition worksheet under the "Felony Motor Vehicle DUI" case-type column as "Other Manner of Disposition".   

 

The Justice Court upon receiving the remanded case should report it on the caseload worksheet as reopened under the "Misdemeanor Motor Vehicle DUI" column because it is remanded as the second DUI.  The case should also be reported as a “remanded case” on the additional caseload worksheet. When the case is adjudicated in Justice Court, a disposition should be entered on the disposition worksheet under the "Misdemeanor Motor Vehicle DUI" column for whichever disposition (e.g., guilty plea with sentence before trial, dismissed before trial, etc.) is reached.

 

13. Question:  There is no Nolle Prosequi (before prelim).  How do we properly count those cases where the decision to not prosecute the case is made before the preliminary hearing?

 

Answer:  The disposition Nolle Prosequi (before trial) can be used for any case that is not being prosecuted before a trial, including cases that have not had a preliminary hearing.

 

14. Question: Can I email you the USJR statistical reports instead of faxing or mailing them?

 

Answer:  Absolutely, we prefer they be emailed.  This allows us to respond to you that we received them and if by chance we need to retrieve the information again, we do not need to ask for them to be re-sent, we can just review our emails.  Reports can be emailed to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .      

 

15. Question: The USJR statistical reports I am submitting have errors in them.  How do I fix them?

 

Answer:  Good catch finding the error.  It depends on your computer system.  If you have the “state sponsored” Courtview as your case management system, contact the AOC IT Helpdesk at (775) 687-9898.  If you have an ADS case management system, contact ADS at (800) 748-6897 (ask for Mike or Erin).  If your case management system is locally controlled, contact your local IT professional. 

 

At anytime, you can contact us and we will do our best to help you troubleshoot the issues and resolve the error.  Call (702) 486-9333 or 486-9334 or email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

16. Question: I just received an e-mail or packet of information from the AOC-Research and Statistics Unit with the last 6 months/1 year of USJR reports from my court.  What do I do with it?

 

Answer: Congratulations, you are the proud recipient or our quality assurance process.  The reports you are receiving are indeed the statistics the AOC has your court reporting for the prior 6 months or 1 year.  Please compare them to the prior 6 months or 1 year that you reported (even reprinting prior months if possible) to ensure numbers are still accurate.  Also, the Research and Statistics Unit may have made comments or notes addressing discrepancies in your reports.  Make whatever corrections, if any, that are necessary and send them back to the Research and Statistics Unit to update the databases.  Even if you have no corrections, report to the Research and Statistics Unit that no corrections are needed.

 

Your review of these materials helps make certain that the information reported and published by the AOC about your court is as accurate as possible.

 

17. Question: I just don’t understand how to get all this information and report it in these confusing reports.   I am thinking of just ignoring them so they go away.  Can I do that? 

 

Answer:  Statistics are like kids, they might go away for a little while but they always come back, and they bring more with them.  Do not ignore them. Please call or email the Research and Statistics Unit.  We can offer training, a shoulder to cry on, and depending on travel budgets, may be able to come to your court and offer some assistance.  Call (702) 486-9333 or 486-9334 or email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

18. The defendant is deceased how do I dispose of the case?

 

Answer: There are two possible solutions.  First has the DA/City Attorney filed anything to dispose of the case (e.g. Motion to Dismiss)?  If so you should dispose of the case as a dismissed before trial.

If nothing has been filed and you are disposing of the case administratively, you should close the case as “other manner of disposition.”

 

19. We are cleaning up our cases.  How do I dispose/adjudicate all these cases that should have been closed years ago?

 

Answer: Congratulations, cleaning up case information helps increase the accuracy of your statistics.  First, we would ask is that you let us know you are cleaning up the cases so that we do not call asking why you have so many dispositions, resulted hearings, or other information reported in your statistics.  It will help as we analyze the statistics for the Annual Report.  Second, if you can determine how the case should have been disposed originally, use that disposition.  If you cannot determine how it should have been disposed, use “other manner of disposition.”

 

Frequently Occurring Errors

 

1.    Totals are not provided on the disposition worksheet.

 

Solution: Statistic preparers should indicate totals on the non-trial disposition, bench trial disposition, and jury trial disposition rows.  Those totals are then combined and added to other dispositions for grand total on the bottom row of the disposition worksheet.  An example is provided on page 17 of the data dictionary.

 

2.    Dispositions are not being entered on the caseload worksheet.  

 

Solution: On the caseload worksheet, rows 5a and 5b should equal the grand total provided on the disposition worksheet.

 

3.    Concluded hearings are being reported as dispositions.

 

Solution: The only dispositions we capture are on the case (e.g., dismissals, guilty pleas, etc.)

 

4.    On the criminal caseload worksheet, the cases reported in the end pending categories do not add up correctly.

 

Solution: Pg. 12 of the data dictionary provides an example of how your caseload statistics should add up to determine the ending pending caseload statistics. 

 

5.    Question:  Can a “Blank=0” statement be entered on phase II forms?

 

Answer:  No, with the many changes, this will result in “0” being reported inaccurately in many instances, especially on the Caseload Worksheet.  Courts should enter “0” in a field that they are able to accurately report in which nothing has been filed or occurred on a specific case type. This may be an option for the disposition worksheet, however, great care should be taken if used.

 

 





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