Lagging on the Felony Front : Crime: Those arrested for serious offenses are less likely to be prosecuted for felonies in O.C. than in the state’s other most populous counties.

Despite a law-and-order image and one of the more costly criminal justice systems in California, Orange County police and prosecutors have the poorest record for securing felony convictions when compared to the state’s most populated counties, a computer-assisted investigation by The Times has shown.

In cases where authorities decide to prosecute, people arrested for felonies here have had the lowest chance of actually facing a felony charge in court, of being convicted of a felony and of getting a state prison sentence, which is invariably longer and served under harsher conditions than a term in county jail.

Orange County law enforcement, which includes 22 police agencies, the Sheriff’s Department and the district attorney’s office, compiled the comparatively low standing while violent crime increased significantly, and annual criminal justice spending went up by almost 50% to $759 million for the years The Times studied.

In some cases, local police and prosecutors were dramatically outperformed by their counterparts in other counties, including those that spent about the same amount of money or less per capita for public safety such as Santa Clara County. That county, which surrounds San Jose, had the same violent crime rate as Orange County and less overall crime but convicted significantly more people of felonies from 1988 to 1992.

Compared to San Diego County, Orange County had fewer citizens to protect and 22% less crime, but spent at least $90 million, or 16.1%, more per year on its criminal justice system. Yet San Diego County authorities managed to convict roughly twice as many felons.

The other counties studied were Los Angeles and San Bernardino. Other than Los Angeles County, Orange County has traditionally spent the most for police, prosecutors, courts and jails of the five counties, state criminal justice records show.

“I look at these numbers and it makes me ask what we can do as a Police Department and as a county to improve,” said Orange Police Chief John R. Robertson, a veteran law enforcement executive. “I thought Orange County’s overall performance would have been comparable to the other areas.”

But hopes for improvement may be clouded by the county’s unprecedented bankruptcy, which has forced cuts in county law enforcement and could affect city police departments if the bankrupt county succeeds in its bid to appropriate municipal revenue.

Bolstering the statistical evidence, a search of Orange County court files turned up thefts, stabbings and beatings that ended up being pursued as misdemeanors, although the facts may have justified more serious felony charges.

In 1992, for example, Kenneth G. Davis, a 47-year-old transient, stabbed Reginald J. Akers in the stomach with a 10-inch knife after a scuffle at the Episcopal Alliance, a church-based charity in Santa Ana. Akers, whose medical bills totaled $29,000, underwent surgery and was hospitalized at taxpayer expense at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana.

Although police had arrested Davis on a felony charge, the district attorney filed a misdemeanor assault case against him. California District Attorneys Assn. guidelines state that felonies should be charged in any assault case in which the victim is hospitalized.

The defendant pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and was sentenced to time already served in jail awaiting trial--five months--and probation. He also was ordered to pay the medical bills, but court records reflect no payments.

Orange County prosecutors said they could not explain why they filed a misdemeanor rather than a felony charge against Davis because their case file has been misplaced.

To compare prosecution records in the five counties, The Times used records that originate in local police departments and are computerized by the California Department of Justice. The data detailed what happened to almost 900,000 adults arrested for felonies whose cases were resolved between Jan. 1, 1988 and the end of 1992, the latest year for which official data is available.

The Justice Department cautions against comparisons between sparsely populated counties, so The Times used data only from the five most populous counties, of which Orange County ranks third.

Among the findings:

* Felony charges were the least likely to be filed in Orange County against people arrested for the so-called “serious and violent” crimes such as murder, robbery, rape and burglary--crimes now considered “strikes” under a new state law that can put three-time felons behind bars for life without parole. State law defines 29 felonies as “serious and violent.”

* People arrested in Orange County for spousal abuse, auto theft and burglary--some of the most frequently reported crimes--had the greatest chance of avoiding both a felony conviction on their records and a prison sentence.

* Of Orange County felony arrests that resulted in criminal cases, the majority--55%--ended up being filed by prosecutors as misdemeanors. But in the other four counties, as well as statewide, the opposite occurred, with felony charges filed in 60% of the cases, compared to Orange County’s 45%.

* Because of this lower felony prosecution rate, Orange County sent the smallest percentage of people to prison as a result of all types of felony arrests.

Criminal justice researchers say the felony prosecution record of a county can depend on a host of factors, such as the seriousness of crime, law enforcement resources and the policies of police departments and the district attorney, as well as their working relationships.

Police and prosecutors are heavily dependent on each other for the successful prosecution of criminals. Police and sheriff’s deputies gather evidence of wrongdoing, make arrests and seek criminal complaints. District attorneys and their deputies evaluate the cases presented to them by police and decide whom to charge and take to court.

Although individual sentences are set by judges, district attorneys also greatly influence the severity of punishment in virtually every case by the type of charges they file.

Felonies are punishable with terms of 16 months or more in state prison, while misdemeanors generally carry maximum penalties of six months in county jail, with some exceptions. So if the district attorney elects to file a misdemeanor charge instead of a felony, he or she puts a lower ceiling on the punishment the accused faces if found guilty.

“A misdemeanor is appropriate for someone caught spraying graffiti or for riding a bus without paying for a bus token. But it is not a deterrent to violent crime,” said Alice Vachss, a former New York City prosecutor and author of a recent book about sex crimes who reviewed statistical charts developed by The Times. “It’s a slap on the wrist. Felony filings merit an entire range of options and punishments. To opt out of charging a felony eliminates any serious response.”

Commenting on The Times’ findings, some Orange County police chiefs said they were surprised and concerned about the high proportion of felony arrestees being prosecuted as misdemeanors, because the criminals are returned to the streets more quickly and the deterrent effect on other would-be criminals is diminished.

Moreover, they said that limited law enforcement resources are wasted if misdemeanor charges are the end result of more costly and time-consuming felony investigations. Proving a felony often requires forensic laboratory work, more witness interviews and more court appearances for police officers.

“It looks like there might be something we need to work out,” said Huntington Beach Police Chief Ronald E. Lowenberg. “Perhaps we have grown too fast as a county, and we’re still trying to control crime like in the 1960s and 1970s. Maybe it needs to change.”

Orange County Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi and Santa Ana Police Chief Paul M. Walters said, however, it was impossible to compare counties because there are so many variables.

“We’re talking about practices that may vary from one city to another, based upon the policies of the police departments,” Capizzi said. “We are talking about variables of the types of crimes, the criminal backgrounds of those arrested, and we’re talking about the different policies of the district attorneys’ offices. I don’t think those statistics, in and of themselves, prove anything.”

Walters, Capizzi and some other local law enforcement officials took issue with the Justice Department data The Times relied upon, arguing that it is incomplete and unreliable.

But an array of experts consulted by The Times, including the RAND Corp. and the statistics department at UCLA, said the basic data was reliable and the comparisons fair.

Defending Orange County’s record, Capizzi said the relatively low crime rate here--for violent crime in particular--is attributable, in part, to the work of his office and that of other law enforcement officials. Among the five counties studied by The Times, only Santa Clara County has a lower crime rate.

Of the state’s 10 most populous counties, Capizzi said, Orange County has one of the lowest crime rates and the second-lowest violent crime rate, a “significant accomplishment . . . due in part to our efforts here in the district attorney’s office.” The overall crime rate also is below the state average.

All in all, Capizzi said, prosecutors and investigators are producing “a high quality of work,” filing the appropriate charges and seeking the toughest sentences possible.

During the years The Times studied, Orange County slowly but steadily improved its felony prosecution rate, especially for crimes such as auto theft and spousal abuse.

Of all the felony arrest cases that completed their months-long odyssey through the criminal justice system in 1992--Orange County’s best year statistically--53% had been handled by prosecutors as felonies and 47% as misdemeanors.

Although Capizzi insists that his office has no goals for any type of charge, he acknowledges that he placed greater emphasis on filing felony rather than misdemeanor charges for vehicle thefts and in spousal abuse cases after he was appointed the county’s top prosecutor in January, 1990.

He said the increase in the felony prosecution rate under his stewardship was more likely attributable to the nature of the individual cases police brought to his office “and a sense that the cases . . . [were] more demanding of felony treatment.”

Nevertheless, Orange County’s was still the lowest felony prosecution rate among the five most populous counties that year, and the ability to improve in the years ahead is uncertain, given the county’s bankruptcy.

Already, the financial calamity has lopped $2 million from the district attorney’s budget and $4 million from the Sheriff’s Department, the county’s largest law enforcement agency. With the failure of Measure R, the half-cent sales tax defeated by voters in June, even deeper spending cuts could be on the horizon for both agencies, as well as city police departments if the state Legislature diverts some tax revenue to the county, or wipes out the county’s massive bankruptcy debts to the cities.

Capizzi recently announced that his office, which has 20 vacant posts for attorneys, will no longer prosecute many low-level misdemeanor crimes such as trespassing, public disturbances and minor alcohol-related offenses.

But even before the bankruptcy, Orange County’s performance by a variety of measures was low when compared to other counties. For example, only one in nine criminal cases resulting from a felony arrest ended in a prison sentence, and the overall felony conviction rate was the lowest of the five metropolitan regions The Times analyzed.

Similar conclusions were reached in a separate study by Santa Clara County Municipal Court, which used the same Justice Department data to compare the handling of 1992 felony cases in 10 metropolitan counties. Of the 10 counties, Orange County had the lowest percentage of felony arrests that actually resulted in a felony prosecution and conviction.

During the year of that study, Reymundo Cirilo Hernandez of Santa Ana was arrested on felony assault charges after stabbing a 58-year-old woman five times during an unprovoked attack.

Inez Martinez was wounded three times in an arm, once in a breast and another time in a leg, before another woman came to her aid and pulled Hernandez away. Martinez was treated for her wounds at Western Medical Center.

Although Hernandez could have been charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon, which carries a punishment of two to four years in prison, the district attorney’s office chose to file a misdemeanor assault charge, which is punishable by six months in County Jail. Hernandez, 41, who had a prior record for burglary and petty theft, eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months in jail.

District attorney officials said a misdemeanor case was filed because the victim couldn’t be relied upon to testify against Hernandez, and the stabbing, in their minds, was not serious enough to warrant a prison sentence.

“The reality is, for the exact same crime in another county, you have a much better chance of getting a felony conviction and state prison time,” said Orange County Sheriff’s Capt. Jack DeVereaux, a 31-year veteran who teaches new officers about the criminal justice system at the sheriff’s academy.

In his training sessions, DeVereaux said, “I tell the new officers, ‘You may think you’re in a law-and-order county, but the statistics show differently.’ The cops are booking the crooks and the D.A. elects to file misdemeanors that further fill up our overcrowded jails. I think the D.A. only goes for felonies on the slam-dunk cases here. The ones they have to work for, or think they might lose, they don’t bother with, and they file as misdemeanors.”

Capizzi denies that his office is more selective about the felony cases it files. Prosecutors, he said, try to bring charges that most accurately reflect the crime.

“Our policy is to not over-file cases,” Capizzi said. “It is to call them as they are, to try and get the maximum sentence out of these cases. That is typically the basis for our filing.”

But of the five counties The Times compared, Orange County ranked last, for example, in pressing felony charges against persons arrested on suspicion of felony burglary. Santa Clara County prosecutors filed felony charges in 74% of such cases. In San Diego County, that figure was 60%. In Orange County, 31%.

In Los Angeles County, someone arrested for felony burglary and prosecuted has roughly one chance in four of going to prison. In Orange County, those odds are about one in nine.

Of those arrested for felony auto theft in the five counties, a felony charge was least likely to be filed in Orange County, which also had the lowest felony conviction rate and tied Santa Clara County for sending the smallest percentage to state prison.

Orange County’s record for prosecuting rape and spousal abuse cases was similarly at the bottom of the list, compared with the other four counties. Of those arrested for rape, felony charges resulted in less than 80% of the cases. The other counties filed felonies 90% of the time. One in three arrested in Orange County ended up in prison. In Los Angeles County, the ratio was nearly one of two.

In domestic violence cases, only 4% of those arrested for spousal abuse were charged with felonies in Orange County, compared with 21% in Santa Clara County, 17% in San Diego County and 14% in San Bernardino County. Only 2.3% were convicted of that offense in Orange County and fewer than one in 100 went to prison.

Take the case of Samuel Navarrette Camacho of Santa Ana. He admitted punching his wife, Bertha Zarate, then seven months pregnant, in the stomach on Christmas Day two years ago, court records show. She was rushed to the hospital with vaginal bleeding. Just a week before, Camacho had whipped her with an electrical cord, kicked her and punched her in the face.

Police listed the Christmas Day assault as a “willful infliction of corporal injury,” which the state penal code says is always a felony. Guidelines of the California District Attorneys Assn. also call for felonies to be filed when a victim requires hospitalization.

But the Orange County district attorney filed five misdemeanor charges against Camacho.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Brent Romney said prosecutors normally look at the severity of the injury in deciding whether to file a misdemeanor or a felony.

“This is not a state prison case,” said Romney, who explained that Orange County prosecutors file felony cases only when there is a strong likelihood that the defendant will be sent to prison.

Ultimately, Camacho pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts, and was sentenced to 150 days in jail. If convicted of the felony charge, Camacho could have faced a prison term of two to four years.

Aside from the issue of questionable filings, a 1994 internal study by Capizzi’s office even noted that proportionately more of Orange County’s felony cases were being reduced to misdemeanors or dismissed in court than in nine other metropolitan counties in California. The report was based on the same Justice Department data used by The Times.

Robertson, the police chief in Orange, said he would like to see some analysis of which cases are being rejected for felony filings. “Are these the more serious cases or the less serious cases? Are we [police] too much by the book? Maybe we should rethink our arrest and charging policies.”

Many high-ranking police officials, mindful of their need to maintain good relations with Capizzi’s office, were reluctant to criticize the district attorney when contacted by The Times. Yet some said privately that Capizzi’s prosecutors and investigators do the minimum in order to just get by.

“They work hard to file felonies only on those cases they think they can win--the dead-bang cases,” said one high-ranking police administrator who spoke on the condition that he not be named. “It’s an embarrassment for [Capizzi] to say how tough on crime he is, and then you look at his statistics.”

After The Times shared its findings with Capizzi, his office in January began keeping special track of felony case activity at the county’s five courthouses. Romney, one of Capizzi’s chief assistants, said that during the first six months of this year, prosecutors filed felony charges almost 90% of the time police requested them.

The Times study indicates that Orange County police typically make 2,000 felony arrests per month. If the district attorney in the first six months of this year charged only 1,000 a month with felonies, as Romney reports, the implication is that police are over-charging at the time of arrest, and are downgrading charges more often than prosecutors.

“If our figures are correct, it shows that the police exercise their discretion to a substantial degree in what happens to felony arrests,” Romney said. “If they are not correct, the police exercise their discretion to a lesser degree. I don’t think our figures are wrong.”

Members of county law enforcement and the legal community say the police share some responsibility for the low felony prosecution rate. The quality of police investigative work, they contend, sometimes leaves much to be desired, and some Orange County police departments often seek felony charges where the facts point to a misdemeanor.

“I am opposed to a D.A. that files a lot of low-end felony cases to . . . look good. You don’t want the court awash in weak cases. You don’t want to burden your felony [prosecutors] with minor cases,” said Orange County Municipal Judge Pamela L. Iles in Laguna Niguel. “I think they screen carefully, and exercise good discretion.”

Prosecutors, judges and defense attorneys interviewed by The Times say it is not uncommon to encounter incomplete police reports and cases where key witnesses have not been interviewed or relevant facts pinned down.

A search of court files by The Times turned up relatively minor crimes where the police had either made felony arrests or sought felony charges when the matters appeared to be misdemeanors.

Some of the cases involved defendants such as Francisco Sotelo Miranda, now 30. Santa Ana police, possibly influenced by his prior criminal record, arrested him in 1992 on suspicion of felony assault with a deadly weapon.

Court records state that Miranda tried to steal a Levi’s jean jacket, worth about $70, from a parked pickup truck. When the owner confronted him, Miranda threatened him with a pipe and threw a rock, hitting the victim in the left hand. There were no injuries and the jacket was recovered.

The district attorney filed three misdemeanor charges against Miranda--assault, petty theft and presenting police a false identification. Miranda pleaded guilty and received 150 days in County Jail.

“Many of these cases are not felonies to begin with,” said Marshall M. Schulman, a veteran criminal defense attorney in Orange County. “Police will often seek felonious assault when it’s actually a misdemeanor. Sometimes it is just ridiculous.”

Some law enforcement officials say that police in many such cases are legally justified in making a felony arrest, but the available evidence may not support a felony charge by the time the case is brought to the district attorney.

Further affecting the statistics are so-called “wobbler” crimes, which can be pursued as either a felony or misdemeanor. They include certain types of thefts, burglaries and assaults. As a matter of policy, most police arrest on the higher felony charge to preserve the full range of punishment options.

“I think they [the police] are doing a good job, and I sense, based on the police administrators that I talk to and the cops on the street, that they feel we are doing a good job,” Capizzi said.

Yet some police agencies are doing a better job than others, judging from their rate of success at getting their felony arrestees charged with felonies.

In Santa Ana, nearly six in 10 felony arrests accepted by prosecutors for filing end up as felony cases, the highest felony acceptance rate in the county, state criminal justice statistics show.

But in at least five other police departments--Brea-Yorba Linda, Costa Mesa, Cypress, La Palma and Newport Beach--66% or more of their felony arrests ended up being treated as misdemeanors, when accepted for filing. The chiefs of some of these departments insist that their officers are not “over-charging” at the time of arrest, and some confess to disappointment that their cases are not prosecuted more vigorously.

Justice Department data indicates that a number of other departments report having a relatively high percentage of their felony arrest cases rejected altogether by prosecutors, and the reason is almost always the same--insufficient evidence.

Against a countywide average of only 8%, Fullerton reported that 16.1% of its felony arrests were rejected as both felonies and misdemeanors; Garden Grove, 13.1%; Laguna Beach, 12.7%; Seal Beach, 12.6%; and La Palma, 12.1%.

“The police need some work too. They often ask for the highest charge, knowing full well they won’t get it filed as a felony,” said a veteran deputy district attorney, who requested anonymity. “The Orange County D.A. deals with a lot of small city departments. Some are clueless about what they need for a felony filing.”

But Lt. Jim Weuve, a 23-year veteran of the Cypress Police Department, said police are obliged to follow state law when it comes to making an arrest--even though prosecutors have declined to file felony charges in seven of 10 felony arrest cases in his city.

“People consider this a conservative county,” said Weuve. “But it’s not as conservative as people believe. People think it’s law-and-order, and if you break the law, you get hung by the neck. That just isn’t true.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Funnel of Justice

Although state law says that a felony is punishable by a term in state prison, only one of 10 adult felony arrestees whose cases are submitted to Orange County prosecutors actually end up there. Here’s how a typical 100 cases proceeded through the criminal justice system from 1988 through 1992, the latest year for which data is available: Felony arrests by police: 100 Case rejected by DA: 8 Charged with misdemeanors: 51 Defendants charged with felonies: 41 Dismissals/acquittals/diversions: 7 Convicted of felonies: 34 Punished with jail & probation: 22 Punished with probation only, other: 2 Sent to prison: 10 ****

County Comparison

How suspects arrested in five counties fared from 1988 to 1992. Percentages are based on the number of felony arrests actually prosecuted, either as a misdemeanor or felony case. Unlike chart above, cases rejected by the district attorney’s office are not included.

Los San Santa San Angeles Diego Orange Clara Bernardino Charged with felonies 62% 63% 45% 73% 53% Convicted of felonies 53% 53% 37% 56% 40% Sent to prison 21% 14% 11% 12% 16%

5-county average Charged with felonies 60% Convicted of felonies 50% Sent to prison 17%

Source: California Department of Justice OBTS report files, 1988-1992

Researched by MARK LANDSBAUM and DAN WEIKEL / Los Angeles Times

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Serious Convictions

During the period 1988-92, Orange County had less success securing felony convictions and imprisoning defendants arrested for serious and violent crimes, when compared to the four other largest counties in the state. Percentages based on total complaints filed against defendants whom police asked the district attorney to prosecute:

Los San Santa San Angeles Diego Orange Clara Bernardino Charged with felonies 67% 77% 57% 81% 68% Convicted of felonies 55% 64% 46% 65% 51% Prison 32% 26% 22% 27% 29%

5-county average Charged with felonies 68% Convicted of felonies 55% Prison 30%

Note: California law defines 28 crimes as the most serious and violent. Ranging from murder, forcible rape and residential burglary to continuous sexual abuse of a child, they are the “three strike” crimes.

Source: California Department of Justice OBTS report files, 1988-1992

Researched by DAN WEIKEL and MARK LANDSBAUM / Los Angeles Times

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Less than Success

Among the five most populous counties in the state, Orange County has had the least success in securing felony convictions of--and ultimately imprisoning--people arrested for felonies. During the most recent five years for which information is available, Orange County ranked lowest in punishing each of these crimes:

Felony Burglary

Los San Santa San Angeles Diego Orange Clara Bernardino Charged with felonies 52% 60% 31% 74% 45% Convicted of felonies 46% 54% 27% 64% 37% Prison 24% 17% 11% 16% 15% Felony Auto Theft Charged with felonies 59% 84% 50% 79% 68% Convicted of felonies 52% 74% 44% 64% 53% Prison 22% 17% 13% 13% 18% Rape Charged with felonies 89% 92% 78% 91% 90% Convicted of felonies 75% 78% 61% 77% 68% Prison 46% 38% 33% 43% 36% Felony Robbery Charged with felonies 86% 87% 80% 88% 83% Convicted of felonies 72% 72% 63% 72% 62% Prison 44% 32% 32% 35% 38% Felony Spouse Abuse Charged with felonies 7.8% 16.7% 4.3% 20.9% 14.2% Convicted of felonies 5.7% 9.5% 2.3% 11.3% 9.1% Prison 1.2% 1.2% 0.3% 1.4% 1.1%

5-county average Charged with felonies 50% Convicted of felonies 45% Prison 20% Felony Auto Theft Charged with felonies 64% Convicted of felonies 56% Prison 20% Rape Charged with felonies 89% Convicted of felonies 73% Prison 42% Felony Robbery Charged with felonies 85% Convicted of felonies 70% Prison 41% Felony Spouse Abuse Charged with felonies 10.8% Convicted of felonies 6.9% Prison 1.2%

Note: All percentages based on total filed complaints stemming from felony arrests for the listed charge between 1988-92.

Source: California Department of Justice OBTS report files, 1988-1992

Researched by MARK LANDSBAUM / Los Angeles Times

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Dollar Side of Prosecution

San Diego is most like Orange County in total population, demographics and crime rates. Orange County far outspends San Diego, yet San Diego authorities managed to convict roughly twice as many felons during the period 1988-92, the most recent for which information is available. Criminal justice spending:

Per capita Los Angeles: $361 Santa Clara: $267 Orange: $265 San Bernardino: $232 San Diego: $222 ****

Per criminal case disposition Los Angeles: $8,646 San Bernardino: $7,382 Orange: $7,304 Santa Clara: $6,222 San Diego: $4,913 ****

Per criminal arrest Los Angeles: $5,876 Orange: $5,069 Santa Clara: $4,497 San Bernardino: $4,474 San Diego: $3,705 ****

Per FBI Index crime* Santa Clara: $5,474 Los Angeles: $4,816 Orange: $4,543 San Bernardino: $3,280 San Diego: $3,140 * Includes murder, rape, robbery, burglary, aggravated assault, motor vehicle theft, grand theft and arson.

Source: California Criminal Justice Profiles, Judicial Council of California Annual Reports, 1988-92

Researched by MARK LANDSBAUM / Los Angeles Times

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Path to Justice

Once police have arrested a felony suspect, there are four basic steps involved in moving a case through the criminal justice system. Here is the path:

1. Police seek either a felony or misdemeanor complaint, or release suspect if they think evidence is too weak. With felony arrests, police say they generally seek severest possible charge.

2. Prosecutors review cases, decide which to pursue and then whether to prosecute as felonies or misdemeanors. Misdemeanor charge effectively places punishment ceiling of a year or less in County Jail if defendant is convicted. Only felons go to state prison.

3. More than 90% of felony cases is resolved through guilty pleas, many induced with offers of a lighter sentence than might be expected after a jury trial, or reduced charges that carry less punishment. During the period 1988-1992, the percentage of felony defendants who had trials ranged from a low of 3% in 1989-90 to a high of 5% in 1991-92.

4. Sentences are imposed by elected judges. Punishment generally prescribed by state law, which sets sentencing ranges for each crime. Assault with a deadly weapon, for example, is punishable by two to four years in state prison, or by one year or less in a county jail. Judges can stay or postpone some prison sentences, and can place the defendant on probation. Or, they can sentence offender to a combination of jail and probation. Only about 10% of Orange County felony arrestees during the past five years went to prison.

Source: Times reports

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

County Crime Watch

The Times compared aspects of the criminal justice system in five of California’s most populous counties for the years 1988-1992. Los Angeles had the bleakest crime picture, followed by San Bernardino, San Diego, Orange and Santa Clara. The population, crime and cost statistics are averaged for the five years. The FBI Crime Index, which is a standard measure of criminal activity in a community, tracks reported instances of willful homicide, forcible rape, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, larceny, auto theft and arson. The first four listed are the violent crimes.

Los Angeles County

* Population: 8,851,000

* FBI Index Crimes/1,000 residents: 75.2

* Violent crimes/1,000 residents: 16.8

* All law enforcement spending: $3.2 billion

* Law enforcement spending per capita: $361

****

San Diego County

* Population: 2,475,000

* FBI Index Crimes/1,000 residents: 71.1

* Violent crimes/1,000 residents: 8.6

* All law enforcement spending: $552 million

* Law enforcement spending per capita: $222

****

Orange County

* Population: 2,408,000

* FBI Index Crimes/1,000 residents: 58.6

* Violent crimes/1,000 residents: 5.2

* All law enforcement spending: $641 million

* Law enforcement spending per capita: $265

Santa Clara County

* Population: 1,496,000

* FBI Index Crimes/1,000 residents: 48.9

* Violent crimes/1,000 residents: 5.1

* All law enforcement spending: $401 million

* Law enforcement spending per capita: $267

San Bernardino County

* Population: 1,397,000

* FBI Index Crimes/1,000 residents: 71.5

* Violent crimes/1,000 residents: 10.2

* All law enforcement spending: $327 million

* Law enforcement spending per capita: $232

Sources: California Department of Justice, Criminal Justice Profiles

Researched by DAN WEIKEL / Los Angeles Times.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Terms of Justice

Like most other disciplines, the criminal justice system has its own language. Some of the expressions:

Felony: A serious crime punishable in California by death or a term of 16 months or more in state prison.

Misdemeanor: Crime less serious than a felony and generally carrying a maximum penalty of six months in County Jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.

Plea bargaining: Negotiation whereby defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest (nolo contendere) in exchange for consideration in filing of charges and/or sentencing.

“Three strikes” law: Mandates a sentence of 25 years to life for criminals who have two prior felony convictions for serious or violent crimes.

Felony filing unit: Centralized group of experienced staff attorneys in district attorney’s office who screen and evaluate potential felony cases for filing.

Wobbler: Case that can be filed either as a felony or misdemeanor; includes certain types of thefts, burglaries and assaults.

Sources: California Penal Code, Black’s Law Dictionary, Times reports

Researched by MARK PLATTE / Los Angeles Times