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Charging and Filing

In Colorado, misdemeanors (including traffic cases) and petty offenses/infractions are filed directly with the court by law enforcement. Felony cases are first reviewed by the District Attorney's (DA) Office before filing. After reviewing and accepting a felony case, prosecutors decide what type of charges to file. This section presents data on all cases for which a law enforcement agency has filed the case (misdemeanors or petty offenses/infractions) or for which the DA’s Office has decided to accept the referral and file the charges (felonies). 

Why is this important? To support community safety, we want to maximize limited resources by focusing on serious crime while minimizing unnecessary punitiveness. Understanding the number and types of cases filed in the Office helps to ensure we use resources efficiently, effectively, and fairly.












Indicators

Below are a set of indicators that provide additional context about cases filed. These indicators help the DA's Office ensure they are prioritizing cases effectively and charging cases appropriately.









A significant portion of this decrease comes from changes the legislature passed HB19-1263 which changed the level of offense for drug possession cases, meaning that many offenses which were previously a class 4 drug felony were reclassified as a misdemeanor. This change went into effect on March 1, 2020. That same month, Colorado began to the impacts of COVID-19 which dramatically impacted how citizens interacted, as well as law enforcement and court operations. While the overall number of felonies filed moved lower, nearly all of this reduction occurred in the least serious felony offenses (F4, F5, F6, DF3, and DF4). The majority of the reduction occurred in a reduction in DF4 case filings alone - the lowest level of drug felony, which became misdemeanor offenses. For our most serious offenses, the total number of filings remained consistent.


It is important to note that the DA's Office does not have direct influence on the volume of misdemeanor cases. The vast majority of misdemeanor cases are filed by law enforcement directly to the court without district attorney screening.

Notes 

  • Each case is represented once, by the top charge filed. 
  • Warrants are excluded (for all cases identified as a warrant).
  • Cases do not map directly to criminal incidents. One incident can result in multiple arrests and cases – or multiple incidents could result in the arrest and prosecution of a single individual.
  • For definitions of charge types included in the dashboard, see the full list in Technical Notes.