Criminal Court Reports and Dashboards

A collection of reports and dashboards related to criminal cases in the Massachusetts Court System.

Below is a list of available Massachusetts Trial Court statistical reports and interactive dashboards on criminal matters. Summary statistics reflect the type and volume of cases handled across the state over recent years.

Interactive Dashboards

• Massachusetts Trial Court Annual Case Filing Statistics 
  • Case filing statistics for each Trial Court department from FY 2002 through FY 2022.
• Massachusetts Criminal Cases Filed, Charge and Defendant Detail 
  • Criminal cases filed in Massachusetts Trial Court with lead charge and defendant demographics. This data is updated annually. Data sets for each year in this dashboard are available here: Charges Datasets by Year. To download data from this dashboard, select the download icon at the top-right or bottom-right corner of the screen and select “crosstab.”  Under Select Format, select Excel (.xlsx) or comma-separated value (.csv).  Any filters or selections currently applied to the dashboard will be reflected in the downloaded file
• Massachusetts Trial Court, Charges Dashboard
  • Charges filed in Massachusetts Trial Courts. Data is organized by year, jurisdiction, and charge detail. This data is updated annually. To download data from this dashboard, select the download icon at the top-right or bottom-right corner of the screen and select “crosstab.” Under Select Format, select Excel (.xlsx) or comma-separated value (.csv).  Any filters or selections currently applied to the dashboard will be reflected in the downloaded file.
• Massachusetts Trial Court, Dangerousness Hearings
  • Dashboard of cases with one or more dangerousness hearings under M.G.L. Chapter 276, Section 58A. In a dangerousness hearing, the prosecution asks that the defendant be held without bail for up to 120 days. This data is updated quarterly.
• Massachusetts Trial Court, Initial Release Decisions in Criminal Cases
  • Initial release decisions in criminal cases in the District and Boston Municipal Courts. Data is updated annually.
• Massachusetts Trial Court, Show Cause Hearing Decisions
  • Dashboard of "show cause" applications for criminal complaints in the Boston Municipal and District Courts. A show cause hearing is a hearing that a magistrate may schedule after someone files a criminal complaint. This hearing gives the accused an opportunity to respond to the complaint against them.

Download Criminal Case Data Sets

• Criminal Charges Aggregate Data

Data Files with Extracts of Case Information

• 2023 Dataset
  The dataset contains 141,406 records. Each record represents a single criminal case that was filed in FY 2023 in the Boston Municipal or District Court department without data elements that will identify a specific case. The offense data reflects the lead charge (first criminal charge listed), though the total number of charges by type is also provided. Only criminal charges are included. Demographic data is reported for the defendant associated with the case, as submitted on criminal complaints from police or revised by Probation. Each defendant has a unique identifier and may appear multiple times in the dataset.
• 2022 Dataset
  The dataset contains 140,825 records. Each record represents a single criminal case that was filed in FY 2022 in the Boston Municipal or District Court department without data elements that will identify a specific case. The offense data reflects the lead charge (first criminal charge listed), though the total number of charges by type is also provided. Only criminal charges are included. Demographic data is reported for the defendant associated with the case, as submitted on criminal complaints from police or revised by Probation. Each defendant has a unique identifier and may appear multiple times in the dataset.
• 2021 Dataset
  The dataset contains 129,236 records. Each record represents a single criminal case that was filed in FY 2021 in the Boston Municipal or District Court department without data elements that will identify a specific case. The offense data reflects the lead charge (first criminal charge listed), though the total number of charges by type is also provided. Only criminal charges are included. Demographic data is reported for the defendant associated with the case, as submitted on criminal complaints from police or revised by Probation. Each defendant has a unique identifier and may appear multiple times in the dataset.
• 2020 Dataset
  The dataset contains 141,243 records. Each record represents a single criminal case that was filed in FY 2020 in the Boston Municipal or District Court department without data elements that will identify a specific case. The offense data reflects the lead charge (first criminal charge listed), though the total number of charges by type is also provided. Only criminal charges are included. Demographic data is reported for the defendant associated with the case, as submitted on criminal complaints from police or revised by Probation. Each defendant has a unique identifier and may appear multiple times in the dataset.
• 2019 Dataset
  The dataset contains 170,763 records. Each record represents a single criminal case that was filed in FY 2019 in the Boston Municipal or District Court department without data elements that will identify a specific case. The offense data reflects the lead charge (first criminal charge listed), though the total number of charges by type is also provided. Only criminal charges are included. Demographic data is reported for the defendant associated with the case, as submitted on criminal complaints from police or revised by Probation. Each defendant has a unique identifier and may appear multiple times in the dataset.

Criminal Court Reports

• Survey of Pretrial Statistics in Criminal Cases FY2019
  • This report provides a statistical overview of the pretrial process for adult criminal cases initiated in the Boston Municipal and District Court. The report analyzes several stages of the criminal case process, including case initiation, arraignment, bail, and initial release decisions. Findings are presented by general case and defendant demographic characteristics.
• Initial Release Outcome and Bail Amount
• Post-Arraignment Defaults - "Failure to Appear"
• Pretrial Release Decisions
• Annual Reports: Chapter 205 of the Acts of 2008 - An Act Further Protecting Children

Last updated:	June 2, 2023