Nearly 1 in 5 felony cases filed in Denver and resolved in 2025 was dismissed with no strings attached. For misdemeanor cases, the rate was 1 in 4. A criminal case might be dismissed for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, evidence falls apart. Law enforcement, prosecutor or lab errors can similarly derail a case. Or perhaps prosecutors decide that pursuing it no longer serves the interests of justice. These situations are a normal, inevitable and sometimes even desirable aspect of the legal system. But other times, cases get dismissed because the system lacks the bandwidth to hold onto them. Heavy caseloads in prosecutors’ offices can lead to more of these dismissals, according to my recent research. I am a professor who studies prosecutorial policy and decision making. I am also a co-manager of Prosecutorial Performance Indicators, a research and technical assistance project that collaborates with prosecutors’ offices across the country to promote transparency, equity and data-informed policy. Between 2021 and 2024, my research team partnered with elected district attorneys throughout Colorado to produce data dashboards that show statistics on criminal cases and outcomes. My colleague Don Stemen and I then used data from that project to investigate how prosecutors responded…
Professional
Colorado criminal cases are dismissed at a higher rate when prosecutors face heavier workloads
Source: The Conversation Politics — CC BY-ND 4.0