9634453 Talarico Most social scientific research on civil courts has focused on caseloads, dispute formation, court reforms and selected system actors such as attorneys. No study to date has focused on the actors, institutions, and process of civil justice as a system. This dissertation seeks to fill this gap in the literature with a neo-institutional study of civil court processes and culture. This theoretical framework emphasizes the importance of norms, rules, and organizations as constraints on individual behavior. It focuses on three questions. What is the effect of institutional change on civil courts? How do civil system actors and institutions interact? Is there a distinctive civil justice culture? To address these questions, the co-P.I. will analyze both quantitative and qualitative data from a single Georgia court system (Hall County). This site is appropriate because it features the state's most comprehensive alternate dispute resolution program, which has a substantial caseload and serves a diverse population. Case records for the quantitative portion of the analysis will be randomly drawn for six years (1989-1994). They will be coded for case type, participants, procedures (e.g. motions and hearings), processing time, disposition type, and outcome and analyzed to produce a statistical profile of general civil and domestic relations litigation and a multivariate analysis of case processing time, disposition type, outcome, and other variables over time. The qualitative portion of the research will consist of elite interviews and direct observation of civil court processes.
