From the South Carolina Law Review:
In civil justice, we face a severe data deficit. The kinds of fundamental data infrastructure that exist in our country today for major social institutions such as education, family and population, labor markets, health, and criminal justice do not exist for civil justice. We confront enormous knowledge gaps with little ability to fill them. Neither the public nor policy makers nor civil society groups can know many basic facts about the workings of civil justice in the United States. This article identifies a possible solution for the data deficit, exploring opportunities for small investments in existing data infrastructure that can pay big dividends in our understandings of the workings of civil justice. In turn, better understanding in these areas could inform the construction of rational and effective social policies and service delivery programs.