Here's one explanation for the huge drop in cases that are accepted for prosecution, but it's an explanation that won't get a lot of political attention -- officerless papering.
I worked in the this USAO doing misdemeanor prosecutions in 2015. The process of accepting a case for prosecution is referred to as "papering" the case, and in 2015 this was an in-person, physical process. For misdemeanor cases, what would typically happen is the following: A particular individual was arrested by DC police overnight. That individual was brought into the stationhouse and booked. If he was being booked for 2 or more misdemeanor offenses, or if he had a record of failing to appear in previous cases, he would be held overnight (this was common). Otherwise, he would be issued a citation and given a court date for his arraignment. On a given weekday, there might be 50 to 100 defendants who were held overnight and charged, and another dozen or fewer who were issued a citation.
The following morning, arraignment court would be held, and everyone who had spent the night in the stationhouse holding cell was brought down to the the Moultrie courthouse and arraigned on charges. In order for those charges issue, a criminal complaint had to be drawn up, together with a Gerstein affidavit (i.e., the sworn affidavit signed by the arresting officer that details the circumstances of the arrest and the basis for the charge). The officer had to physically come to the courthouse and sit in the basement, along with the charging AUSA, while this Gerstein was filled out and signed. The charging AUSA had immediate access to the officer, and got to ask him questions, track down leads, and flesh out the factual basis for the crime while the events were still fresh in the officer's mind.
This process changed starting in 2016. In 2016, MPD and the USAO moved to officerless papering. The police report would be dropped off or sent electronically to the USAO, but no officer was required to come to court in order to charge the defendant. The AUSA could only charge the case based on what the paperwork said. If the paperwork was vague, incomplete, inaccurate, or inconsistent, the case would simply be no-papered. There was no immediate resource that the charging AUSA could use to close gaps, fix errors, etc. The case simply lived or died based on paperwork.
Why the change? I don't know. I can say that officers *hated* papering cases in-person. They would be out on duty all night, arresting people at all hours of the morning, only for their shift to end, but then they were required to come to court. Papering was not a quick or efficient process. The officer might have to wait around in the courthouse basement for hours, waiting for the charging AUSA to get to their case. It was a huge pain. But it absolutely made for better-charged, more thoroughly developed cases.
I am a victim of a felony armed robbery last year with overwhelming evidence in the case and the USAO refuses to press charges or even respond to my phone calls. And local media doesn’t care either!
The Biden appointee began November 2021- your 2021 Stat cut off at September 2021, meaning the 2021 report isn't on the Biden USAtty, and your graphic is off.
More interesting is that the number of felony guilty pleas secured by Biden folks (2022 - 1948) is greater than the number of cases "presented" at 1804, and indicates more felony convictions than both 2020 and 2021 despite the percentages of arrests/"presentation".
Here's one explanation for the huge drop in cases that are accepted for prosecution, but it's an explanation that won't get a lot of political attention -- officerless papering.
I worked in the this USAO doing misdemeanor prosecutions in 2015. The process of accepting a case for prosecution is referred to as "papering" the case, and in 2015 this was an in-person, physical process. For misdemeanor cases, what would typically happen is the following: A particular individual was arrested by DC police overnight. That individual was brought into the stationhouse and booked. If he was being booked for 2 or more misdemeanor offenses, or if he had a record of failing to appear in previous cases, he would be held overnight (this was common). Otherwise, he would be issued a citation and given a court date for his arraignment. On a given weekday, there might be 50 to 100 defendants who were held overnight and charged, and another dozen or fewer who were issued a citation.
The following morning, arraignment court would be held, and everyone who had spent the night in the stationhouse holding cell was brought down to the the Moultrie courthouse and arraigned on charges. In order for those charges issue, a criminal complaint had to be drawn up, together with a Gerstein affidavit (i.e., the sworn affidavit signed by the arresting officer that details the circumstances of the arrest and the basis for the charge). The officer had to physically come to the courthouse and sit in the basement, along with the charging AUSA, while this Gerstein was filled out and signed. The charging AUSA had immediate access to the officer, and got to ask him questions, track down leads, and flesh out the factual basis for the crime while the events were still fresh in the officer's mind.
This process changed starting in 2016. In 2016, MPD and the USAO moved to officerless papering. The police report would be dropped off or sent electronically to the USAO, but no officer was required to come to court in order to charge the defendant. The AUSA could only charge the case based on what the paperwork said. If the paperwork was vague, incomplete, inaccurate, or inconsistent, the case would simply be no-papered. There was no immediate resource that the charging AUSA could use to close gaps, fix errors, etc. The case simply lived or died based on paperwork.
Why the change? I don't know. I can say that officers *hated* papering cases in-person. They would be out on duty all night, arresting people at all hours of the morning, only for their shift to end, but then they were required to come to court. Papering was not a quick or efficient process. The officer might have to wait around in the courthouse basement for hours, waiting for the charging AUSA to get to their case. It was a huge pain. But it absolutely made for better-charged, more thoroughly developed cases.
I am a victim of a felony armed robbery last year with overwhelming evidence in the case and the USAO refuses to press charges or even respond to my phone calls. And local media doesn’t care either!
The Biden appointee began November 2021- your 2021 Stat cut off at September 2021, meaning the 2021 report isn't on the Biden USAtty, and your graphic is off.
More interesting is that the number of felony guilty pleas secured by Biden folks (2022 - 1948) is greater than the number of cases "presented" at 1804, and indicates more felony convictions than both 2020 and 2021 despite the percentages of arrests/"presentation".