GETTING DOWN TO CASES
The caseloads of the district attorney and the public defender have for the most part increased steadily over the years, though there was a slight decrease between 1987 and 1988 for the district attorney. Since 1983 the public defender’s office has had a 68.4% caseload increase while the comparable increase for the district attorney is 25.6%. Nearly half the public defender’s increase, 46%, has come not from work on misdemeanor or felony cases, but from juvenile, civil sanity and civil contempt cases and special proceedings--areas in which the district attorney’s office is not involved. Here’s the trend in caseloads since 1983:
DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
Year Misdemeanors Felonies 1987 88,944 6,921 1986 82,941 6,666 1985 78,545 5,852 1984 75,486 4,543 1983 70,564 3,499
PUBLIC DEFENDER’S OFFICE
Year Misdemeanors Felonies * Other 1988 25,273 6,535 25,561 1987 22,267 5,514 23,602 1986 21,189 5,531 23,195 1985 18,389 4,128 20,552 1984 16,903 3,284 17,572 1983 16,459 2,895 14,708
* Includes juvenile cases, civil sanity cases, civil contempt cases and special proceedings-- most of which are probation violations.
Source: The Orange County district attorney’s office and the Orange County public defender’s office.
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