What am I looking at?

The data presented on this page is sourced from the Virginia Statewide Case Management System and is supplied by Circuit Courts from across the Commonwealth of Virginia (Note: the reports do not include data from the Circuit Courts of Alexandria, Fairfax and Virginia Beach, which do not use the Statewide Case Management System). The data is compiled and presented pursuant to Virginia Code § 63.2-1530 (B)(3). The data reflect the number of charges (not defendants) involving the Code sections specified in Virginia Code § 63.2-1530 (B)(2), some of which include offenses in which either an adult or child may be a victim. Accordingly, this data may include charges in which the victim is an adult.

The data values for “Misdemeanor Convictions Appealed," "Felony Charges Certified," “Charges Brought by Direct Indictment," and "Charges Resulting in Trials" are drawn from cases that were commenced from July 1, of the previous year through June 30, of the selected year; in contrast, data from all the other data values (“Guilty Plea”, “Transferred to Another Court”, “Found Not Guilty”, “Convicted of Amended Charge”, “Convicted of Charged Offense”) are from cases that were concluded during this same time frame. Accordingly, the data reflecting commenced cases does not directly correlate with the data showing concluded cases. As a result, these data are presented on separate tabs, the default tab displays cases that were commenced during the selected time period and the other tab is for the cases that were concluded during the selected time period.

Here is a little more information to consider when viewing the commenced and concluded data values on display in these reports:

• Commenced Cases- data for cases that began (commenced) in the fiscal year (July 1 - June 30) appear in these categories:
  • Misdemeanor Convictions Appealed- this is the number of cases resulting in a misdemeanor conviction where the party convicted of committing the misdemeanor has appealed the conviction.
  • Felony Charges Certified- this is the number of cases where probable cause is found and the case is certified (sent) to the grand jury.
  • Charges Brought by Direct Indictment- this is the number of cases where charges were brought by direct indictment, meaning that sworn testimony has been presented to a grand jury, and the grand jury has issued an indictment.
  • Charges Resulting in Trials- this is the number of charges that resulted in either a Jury or Bench Trial.
• Concluded Cases- data for cases that ended (concluded) in this same fiscal year appear in these categories:
  • Guilty Plea- this is the number of cases where the defendant pled guilty to the crime they were accused of committing. Please note, the Statewide Case Management System does not capture "plea agreements," but does capture those cases in which the court recorded a guilty plea.
  • Transferred to Another Court- the information within this column includes data from the transferring court. The data from the receiving court, including the case disposition of the transferred case, may be included in other columns found in the table.
  • Found Not Guilty- this is the number of cases that have been concluded with a finding of not guilty. These data do not include cases that have other dispositions, such as dismissed, nolle prossed, or mistrial.
  • Convicted of Amended Charge- this is the number of cases where defendants were convicted of amended charges. Please note, the Statewide Case Management System does not capture "Lesser Included Offenses;" however, it does capture cases in which the original charge was amended.
  • Convicted on Charged Offense- the number of cases in which there was a conviction on all charges cannot be determined using the Statewide Case Management System because the system manages the data by charges and not by defendant. The data included here represent charges for which defendants were found guilty.

How do I use this page?

Start by selecting last year from the “Select Year” drop down. Then select your city or county from the map. Each chart will update to show specific data for your area for the time period you have selected.

Once you are familiar with that data, experiment with looking at different years or adding additional cities and counties in the map to increase the amount of data, or narrow the focus by clicking within a chart to drill down on a particular charge.

Bear in mind...

Cases do not always begin and end in the same year. This means that data for cases that started this year may not relate to cases that were ended this year. For example, a charge made in 2017 that went to trial may not have a verdict until 2018.

Since cases that began in this fiscal year may end in the next year and cases that ended this year may have begun earlier than this year, the data does not directly correlate between these two groups (Commenced and Concluded).

Another point to bear in mind is that the same offender may have multiple charges against them. The number of charges does not necessarily equal the number of offenders.