Prosecutor Data

Understanding the Data

What’s Included and What's Excluded

The data sets below include cases from state and local law enforcement including the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, Port Angeles Police Department, Sequim Police Department, Forks Police Department (felony and juvenile cases), Washington State Patrol, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Washington Department of Natural Resources.  They exclude misdemeanor cases from the City of Forks, which are prosecuted by the Forks City Attorney’s Office.  Also excluded are certain cases that originate on federal and tribal lands, which are handled by the US Attorney’s Office or through one of the tribal prosecuting attorney offices.

Definitions

The following definitions should be used when reviewing our data sets:

“Referred” means the number of cases law enforcement sent to the prosecutor for review.

“Charged” means the number of cases where criminal charges were filed by the prosecutor according to data published by the Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts. It is important to note that each case can, and often does, include multiple charges.

“Declined” means the number of cases where the prosecutor declined to file criminal charges.

“Diverted” means the number of cases that were sent by the prosecutor to a diversion program, a process that steers defendants away from formal criminal prosecution towards rehabilitation programs or community-based services.

“Jury trials” means the number of legal proceedings where a jury of citizens determined whether an accused was guilty or not guilty, while the judge ruled on the matters of law.

“Bench trials” means the number of legal proceedings where a judge, rather than a jury, heard evidence and made final decisions, or verdict, in the case.

“Stipulated hearings”  means the number of legal proceedings where the parties agreed to accept certain facts as true and undisputed, eliminating the need to present evidence for those points at trial.

Case Processing Considerations

In many cases, prosecutors must wait for crucial evidence before deciding whether to charge or decline a case. For example, many cases require forensic testing which can take anywhere from 11 to 23 months to process through the state lab. Prosecutors may also need to find, interview, and verify the reliability of witnesses, which can be a lengthy process, especially if witnesses are difficult to locate or uncooperative. In cases involving death or injury, prosecutors may need to wait for the coroner to determine the exact cause of death to ensure it was not accidental or self-inflicted. Additionally, prosecutors may delay filing charges to gather more evidence or information to build the strongest possible case, which could involve further investigation by law enforcement. For these reasons, among others, there may be a delay that occurs after a case is referred and before it is charged or declined.

In addition to evidentiary considerations, limited prosecution resources may contribute to case processing delays. Prosecutors must prioritize cases due to limited staff and budgets, which can lead to slower processing times.

For the reasons stated above, while a case may be referred by law enforcement one year, it may not be charged or declined until one of the following years. This explains why the number of cases referred by law enforcement on an annual basis does not equal the combined number of cases charged, declined, and diverted on an annual basis.