Table 4.6
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U.S. Cases
Motions to
Vacate
Sentence

Habeas Corpus
General 1

Private Cases
Prison
Condition &
Civil Rights

Mandamus and
Private
Other
Cases Total

Habeas
Corpus
General

Death
Penalty

Prison
Condition &
Civil Rights

Mandamus and
Other

Fiscal Year

Total

U.S. Cases
Total

1990 2

42,684

6,611

2,970

1,967

1,149

525

36,073

10,823

54

24,843

353

1995

63,550

8,951

5,988

1,343

1,110

510

54,599

13,462

170

40,569

398

2000

58,257

11,880

6,341

3,870

1,041

628

46,377

21,090

259

24,464

564

2006

54,955

12,032

6,515

3,789

1,116

612

42,923

18,959

236

23,123

605

2007

53,945

11,296

5,896

3,299

1,246

855

42,649

18,907

232

22,779

731

2008

54,781

11,284

6,352

3,035

1,304

598

43,497

18,268

187

24,375

667

2009

52,304

10,457

5,771

2,883

1,315

488

41,847

17,454

227

23,573

593

2010

51,522

10,164

5,858

2,982

914

410

41,358

16,843

199

23,774

542

Note: Prisoner petitions increased 47 percent between 1990 and 1995. Since 1995, fluctuations have occurred in prisoner petitions as a result of legislation (the Prison Litigation Reform Act and
Title I of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, both of which were passed in April 1996) and Supreme Court decisions Bailey v. United States,16 U.S.137 (1995), and Apprendi v. New
Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000).
1

Includes U.S. death penalty cases.

2

Twelve-month period ending June 30. The total provided here for prisoner petitions does not match exactly the data reported on the C-3 Table for 1990 because the data for this table
were recomputed for the fiscal year.
Source: Table C-3, Annual Report of the Director: Judicial Business of the United States Courts.