Methodology

How we analyze Virginia criminal court data

Data Source

All data comes from VirginiaCourtData.org, the public repository of Virginia criminal court records. We analyze 3,672,479 cases from 2023–2024 across 125 Virginia jurisdictions — covering every county and independent city in the Commonwealth.

What We Measure

Dismissal Rate: The percentage of resolved cases where charges were dismissed or a nolle prosequi was entered. A dismissed case means the charges were dropped.

Conviction Rate: The percentage of resolved cases resulting in a guilty plea or guilty verdict at trial.

Case Duration: Days from filing date to disposition date. We report the median (middle value) and the P25-P75 range (middle 50% of cases).

Charge Reduction Rate: The percentage of cases where the original charge was amended to a lesser charge.

Officer Statistics: For each arresting officer or complainant with 20+ cases, we compute their case dismissal rate and compare it to the regional average.

What We Don't Do

  • We never publish individual defendant names or case details
  • We do not predict outcomes or provide legal advice
  • We do not access sealed, expunged, or restricted records
  • We do not analyze demographic data for individual pages (aggregate only)

Why Multi-Year Data Matters

Criminal court outcomes are shaped by structural factors — judicial temperament, prosecutorial policy, local defense bar culture, and statutory sentencing guidelines — that evolve slowly over time. Our two-year dataset captures these institutional patterns rather than short-term fluctuations, providing a more reliable picture of how a jurisdiction typically handles cases.

A court with a 35% dismissal rate for DUI cases across two years of data is far more informative than a single month's snapshot. These patterns help defendants and attorneys understand the landscape they're working within.

Limitations

  • Statistics reflect historical patterns and do not guarantee future outcomes
  • Data may include cases under appeal or with pending motions
  • Officer and judge name matching is approximate (same name = same person within jurisdiction)
  • District court data does not include a separate judge field in all cases
  • We require a minimum of 20 cases to generate statistics for any page

Updates

Data was last refreshed in December 2024. We plan to update the database as new public records become available.