Where are these data from? The dashboard aggregates data from the Vilas County District Attorney's Office's PROTECT case management system to examine referrals. Charge-level data for every criminal case referred to the DA's Office by law enforcement are obtained directly from the PROTECT case management system on a quarterly basis. The dashboard aggregates data from the Wisconsin Consolidated Court Automation Programs (CCAP) case management system for all other metrics (filings, dispositions, sentences, and performance indicators). Charge-level data for every criminal case filed in Wisconsin are obtained directly from the court case management system on a quarterly basis.

How are data presented? This dashboard summarizes information about different parts of the prosecution process: referrals, case filing, dispositions, and sentences. In each section we present general trends and an overview of cases and characteristics. We also present three sections of Prosecutorial Performance Indicators (PPIs), which are designed to measure capacity and efficiency, community safety and well-being, and fairness and justice. PPIs offer an array of metrics that can be tracked over time to inform decision making and policy development.

In each of these, we present data at the case-level, meaning that we present information about each case rather than about each charge. This also means that we do not present information about individual defendants, but about individual cases; the same defendant may appear in the dashboard for multiple cases. This requires some aggregation up to the case-level, meaning that we take information about all charges and dispositions in a case and use that to make a statement about the case as a whole.

How was the top charge in a case identified? Since cases often involve multiple charges, a procedure was devised to categorize cases according to the “top charge” at case referral, filing, and conviction. To determine the "top referred charge," referred charges were first ranked by offense severity according to the state's misdemeanor/felony classification system. Referred charges were then classified into eight distinct offense types (person, sex, weapons, property, drugs, OWI/vehicle, bail jumping, and public order/other). The referred charge with the highest offense severity in a case was designated as the initial top charge for analysis purposes. When a case contained two referred charges with the same offense severity but different offense types, charges were ranked according to offense type in the following way: person (most serious), weapons, property, drugs, OWI/vehicle, bail jumping, public order/other (least serious); when a case contained two referred charges with the same offense severity and the same offense type, charges were allowed to randomly select as the top referred charge. Referral data are grouped according to the top charge referred in a case.

Since not all referred charges are filed for prosecution, a similar procedure was used to determine the "top filed charge." Filed charges were first ranked by offense severity according to the state's misdemeanor/felony classification system. Filed charges were then classified into eight distinct offense types (person, sex, weapons, property, drugs, OWI/vehicle, bail jumping, and public order/other). The filed charge with the highest offense severity in a case was designated as the initial top charge for analysis purposes. When a case contained two filed charges with the same offense severity but different offense types, charges were ranked according to offense type in the following way: person (most serious), weapons, property, drugs, OWI/vehicle, bail jumping, public order/other (least serious); when a case contained two filed charges with the same offense severity and the same offense type, charges were allowed to randomly select as the top filed charge. Filing data and disposition data are grouped according to the top charge filed in a case.

Since not all charges in a case end in a conviction, a similar procedure was devised to categorize cases according to the “top conviction charge.” To determine the top conviction charge, all charges resulting in conviction were first ranked by offense severity according to the state's misdemeanor/felony classification system. Conviction charges were then classified into eight distinct offense types (person, sex, weapons, property, drugs, OWI/vehicle, bail jumping, and public order/other). The conviction charge with the highest offense severity in a case was designated as the top conviction charge for analysis purposes. When a case contained two conviction charges with the same offense severity but different offense types, charges were ranked according to offense type in the following way: person (most serious), weapons, property, drugs, OWI/vehicle, bail jumping, public order/other (least serious); when a case contained two conviction charges with the same offense severity and the same offense type, charges were allowed to randomly select as the top conviction charge. For the analyses, only defendant/cases with a felony as the top charge in the case were included. Sentencing data are grouped according to the top conviction charge in a case.

How was the case disposition identified? In a similar way, since multiple charges in a case can have multiple dispositions, a procedure was devised to categorize cases according to the “controlling disposition.” To determine the controlling disposition in a case, dispositions were categorized as follows: 1. if any charge in the case was disposed as a guilty plea, the case was categorized as “pled guilty;” 2. if all charges in a case were dismissed, the case was categorized as “dismissed;” 3. if all charges in a case were dismissed and read in, the case was categorized as “read in”; 4. if any charge in a case was “deferred”, the case was categorized as deferred; 6. if any charge resulted in a guilty verdict at trial, the case was categorized as “guilty at trial;” 7. if all charges resulted in a verdict of not guilty at trial or a combination of not guilty and dismissed, the case was categorized as “not guilty at trial”; 8. if the case was not categorized as pled guilty (as above) and any charge was still open, the case was categorized as “open”.

Since multiple charges in a case may be disposed of at different times, a process was needed to determine the “controlling disposition date.” Once the controlling disposition was determined above, we used the following process to determine disposition date: 1. if the disposition was pled guilty or deferred, we used the earliest disposition date at which any charge in the case pled guilty or was deferred, respectively; 2. if the disposition was dismissed or read in, we used the latest disposition date at which the last charge in the case was dismissed or read in, respectively; 3. if the disposition was guilty at trial or not guilty at trial, we used the latest disposition date at which the last charge in the case was found guilty, not guilty, or dismissed. Disposition and sentencing data is presented according to the disposition date

How was the case sentence identified? Finally, since a case may involve multiple sentences, a process was used to determine the “controlling sentence.” To determine the controlling sentence in a case, sentences were categorized as follows: 1. if any sentence in the case was prison, the sentence was categorized as “prison;” 2. if any sentence in the case was jail, the sentence was categorized as jail;” 3. if a prison or jail sentence was "withheld" and probation was imposed, the sentence was categorized as probation; 4. if a jail sentence was imposed and the judge noted "time served," the sentence was categorized as "time served"; 5. if a "time served" sentence was imposed (as above) but a probation sentence was also imposed, the sentence was categorized as probation; 6. if neither prison nor jail nor probation was imposed, the sentence was categorized as "other non-custodial". Finally, for presentation, we collapsed all "probation" and "other non-custodial" into a single category of "non-custodial sentence."

How was criminal history and recidivism calculated? Criminal history and recidivism measures were calculated based on cases filed (for recidivism) and cases convicted (for criminal history) within the State of Wisconsin since 2005. We do not have cases from outside the state.

A note on case severity when comparing data to state reportsThis dashboard categorizes case severity at filing differently that the state courts. As noted above, this dashboard determines the top filing charge in a case based on the severity and type of charges at filing. This is then used to categorize the number and type of cases filed and the number and type of cases disposed. The Wisconsin courts, however, determine the top charge in a case based on the final charges in a case. When categorizing cases by top charge, the courts rely a WCIS code, which is tied to the top charge on a case; however, this WCIS code can change throughout the processing of a case. For example, if the most serious charge in a case is reduced after filing from a felony to a misdemeanor, the WCIS code is changed in CCAP; as a result, the case will no longer be categorized as a felony but will be categorized as a misdemeanor and will be counted as a misdemeanor case filed. As a result, when looking at the CCAP dashboard or the CCAP spreadsheet prepared by the state, these data are actually presenting the most serious current or final charge on a case not the most serious filed charge. As a result, the CCAP dashboard and CCAP spreadsheet are undercounting felony cases filed and overcounting misdemeanor and criminal traffic cases filed relative to this dashboard.