Enhancing the Delivery of Quality Justice - Court Metrics Report - Calendar Year 2007     Court Metrics Report Issued for Calendar Year 2007   The Massachusetts Trial Court has issued the second annual report on its performance as assessed by metrics that were developed by the National Center for State Courts. For calendar year 2007 the court metrics, called CourTools, mainly focused on the timeliness of case management. The Trial Court’s continued emphasis on the timely delivery of justice resulted in a significant improvement in the percentage of cases disposed within time standards set for various case types, and a major reduction in the number of aged cases.   “This report reinforces our ongoing commitment to accountability and transparency,” said Chief Justice for Administration & Management Robert Mulligan. “Our continued success can be attributed to the departmental chief justices, judges, clerks and many Trial Court employees who have demonstrated energetic leadership in using these measurements to improve the way we manage the daily business of the Trial Court.”   For the second full year the Trial Court used four metrics that target the timely and expeditious delivery of justice: clearance rate, time to disposition, age of pending cases, and trial date certainty. A fifth metric, the Access and Fairness Survey, also was piloted and implemented in the Boston Municipal Court Department in 2007, and now is being implemented across the Trial Court.   The Trial Court disposed of 86 percent of cases within established time standards, a 12-point improvement over 2006. The number of cases pending beyond time standards declined by almost 16 percent, which represents a two-year reduction of more than 100,000 cases.       Return to the Home Page