Reports

North Dakota Court System Releases 2025 Annual Report

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 09:09:00 GMT

The North Dakota Court System has published its 2025 Annual Report, highlighting a year of continued progress in judicial administration, technological advancement, and service to the public.

The report reflects the judiciary’s ongoing commitment to its mission: to provide the people, through an independent judiciary, equal access to fair and timely resolution of disputes under law.

Leadership Transition and Vision

The 2025 report marks a significant leadership transition within the state’s highest court. Lisa Fair McEvers was elected Chief Justice of the North Dakota Supreme Court, becoming the first woman to hold the position in state history. She succeeded Jon J. Jensen, whose tenure emphasized innovation, responsiveness, and modernization within the courts.

Chief Justice McEvers’ message outlines a forward-looking agenda focused on strengthening court security, supporting municipal courts, and continuing improvements in access to justice and court administration.

Key Highlights from 2025

The Annual Report provides a comprehensive overview of court operations, including caseload data, program outcomes, and system initiatives. Notable highlights include:

154,399 district court cases filed statewide
406 appellate cases filed
237 majority opinions issued by the Supreme Court
238 jury trials conducted across the state
774 mediation cases accepted
5,190 juvenile court delinquency referrals

The report also notes that the judicial branch represents just 0.8% of the state’s biennium budget, underscoring the system’s efficiency in delivering essential public services.

The report details the work of district and juvenile courts, as well as specialized dockets addressing treatment, veterans’ issues, and domestic violence. These programs emphasize accountability, rehabilitation, and improved outcomes for individuals and communities.

In addition, court services such as the Legal Self-Help Center and mediation programs continue to expand access for self-represented litigants and underserved populations.

Access the Full Report

The full North Dakota Court System 2025 Annual Report is available on the North Dakota Supreme Court website at https://www.ndcourts.gov/Media/Default/Court%20Administration/Annual-Report/NDSC-2025-annual-report.pdf

ND Court System Releases 2024 Annual Report

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 09:09:00 GMT

ND Court System Releases 2024 Annual Report

The 2024 annual report for the North Dakota Court System has been posted. The North Dakota Courts Annual Report provides statistics and information on all court system activity, including caseload data for the North Dakota Supreme Court and the district courts.

The report includes sections on specialized dockets, juvenile courts, programs and services offered by the court system, committees and boards, and an overview of court administration.

The full report can be accessed here https://www.ndcourts.gov/state-court-administration/annual-report.

2024 Report on Departures from Mandatory Minimum Sentences

Mon, 02 Dec 2024 10:09:00 GMT

The state court administrator has issued the annual report on departures from mandatory minimum sentences for the period from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024.

View the annual report by clicking here: Annual Report Download

Study Finds North Dakota Courts Lead in Effective Management of Felony Cases

Mon, 04 Nov 2024 10:09:00 GMT

The National Center for State Courts has released the results of a multi-year study of criminal case management in North Dakota ( link to executive summary and link to full report ). The study found that, adjusted for population, North Dakota’s 55 judges carry the highest criminal caseload in the nation. The study also found that North Dakota courts are among the timeliest in the nation, with an average felony disposition rate of 190 days from filing to disposition.

The study identified North Dakota’s systemic approach to caseflow management as key to its success. This includes setting expectations and time standards, using data-driven management to establish judge rotations and schedules, building flexibility and redundancy into the calendaring system, and real-time monitoring and verification of the system.

The tools that support caseflow management include using real-time performance monitoring through the use of dashboards to track documents ready for review, decision due dates, the age of cases, and pending court hearings; in-program alerts to identify missing data or other data entry errors; and automated information sharing with the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation, the North Dakota State Hospital, and the Commission on Legal Counsel for Indigents to alert them to incoming requests for services. Presiding judges monitor their district performance through regular monthly under advisement and time to disposition reports and the chief justice manages the overall management of cases through quarterly reports submitted by the presiding judges.

The study found some statewide issues that contribute to delay in case processing. These included timeliness of getting reports from the state hospital related to number of requests, lack of staff, and confusion about the differences between competency (fitness to proceed) evaluations and evaluations to determine criminal responsibility; delays in getting reports from the state lab related to staffing shortages and issues with communication about reports; and delays in public defender appointments related to incomplete or late applications, attorney conflicts of interest and the unequal implementation of pre-trial services.

The study suggested two further areas of study. Offenses that include sexual assault or familial violence make-up 67% of felony violent offense cases. The study found that there is a significant delay in the discovery process of these cases compared to other types of violent offenses. Finally, in comparing judicial districts, the study found that the rate of pre-trial bench warrants varied from 19% to 29% of felony cases but researchers were not able to determine the reasons behind the disparity based on the available data.

The use of time to disposition standards (link to AR 12) and caseflow management practices (link to policy 507) have been vital to ensuring fair and timely court processes since they were first implemented in 1995 under the leadership of Chief Justice Gerald VandeWalle. The North Dakota Court System is grateful to former Judge Alan Schmalenberger, former Judge Frank Racek, former judge Gail Hagerty and former Justice Dale Sandstrom for their early adoption of the principles of effective case management and their many years of leading innovation in this area.

Judge Frank Racek, who served as a consultant on this project, was a pioneer in crafting and then proving the viability of the systemic method of case management now used extensively in North Dakota. He pointed out that there is no universal process that a court can adopt that will ensure timely case processing. Instead, it takes a commitment to evaluate caseload based on the number of events required for each type of hearing, the historical probability of an event occurring as scheduled, courtroom availability and functionality, state’s attorney and public defender availability, and a myriad of other details that are specific to each locality. He credits the success of the system used in the East Central Judicial District to the willingness of former Cass County state’s attorney Birch Burdick and indigent defense counsel Monte Mertz to try new approaches.

The court system is also grateful to Judge Robin Schmidt, Assistant State Court Administrator Scott Johnson and Unit Court Administrator Kelly Hutton for their leadership and staffing of the Caseflow Management Committee and to Judge Brad Cruff for his leadership of the Mental Health Workgroup, and Travis Finck, Executive Director of Indigent Defense and Sara Behrens, staff attorney for the state court administrator’s office for their work on the subcommittee on criminal responsibility and fitness to proceed. The dashboards and real-time edit functions were written by former and current members of the judicial branch IT Department, and we especially recognize Jeff Stillwell for his leadership in this area.

This project was supported by Grant No. 15PBJA-21-GG-04272-JRIX, through the Reducing Crime by Improving Justice System Performance program, awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a division of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs.

Court system releases 2022 annual report

Thu, 02 Mar 2023 12:04:00 GMT

The 2022 annual report for the North Dakota Court System has been posted. The North Dakota Courts Annual Report provides statistics and information on all court system activity, including caseload data for the North Dakota Supreme Court and the district courts. The report includes sections on specialized dockets, juvenile courts, programs and services offered by the court system, and an overview of court administration.

The full report can be accessed here: https://www.ndcourts.gov/Media/Default/Court%20Administration/Annual-Report/ar2022c.pdf

Court system releases 2021 Juvenile Court Annual Report

Thu, 28 Apr 2022 10:51:00 GMT

The 2021 Juvenile Court Annual Report for the North Dakota Court System has been posted. The Juvenile Court Annual Report looks specifically at referrals to juvenile court, disposition of juvenile cases, and specific programs with the juvenile court offices across the state.

This year’s report includes an explanation of changes to the Uniform Juvenile Court Act that were approved during the 2021 legislative session along with data fact sheets on all referrals, disposition of delinquent cases, detention and attendant care admissions, and Child in Need of Protection and Termination of Parental Rights filings.

Download the 2021 Juvenile Court Annual Report.

ND court system releases 2020 Juvenile Court annual report

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 12:00:00 GMT

The 2020 annual report for North Dakota Juvenile Court has been posted. This year’s report provides data on referrals to juvenile court by case type, location, gender, and age. It has statistics on delinquent, unruly, and deprivation cases and includes updates on the Dual Status Youth Initiative and Court Improvement Program.

Download the full report.

N.D. court system releases 2019 annual reports

Thu, 23 Apr 2020 09:00:00 GMT

The 2019 annual reports for the North Dakota Court System have been posted. The North Dakota Courts Annual Report provides statistics and information on all court system activity, including caseload data for the North Dakota Supreme Court and the district courts.

The Juvenile Court Annual Report looks specifically at referrals to juvenile court, disposition of juvenile cases, and specific programs with the juvenile court offices across the state.

North Dakota Courts 2019 Annual Report: https://www.ndcourts.gov/Media/Default/Court%20Administration/Annual-Report/North%20Dakota%20Courts%20Annual%20Report%202019.pdf

Juvenile Court 2019 Annual Report: https://www.ndcourts.gov/Media/Default/Trial%20Courts/Juvenile%20Court/juvenile-court-annual-report-2019.pdf