District Attorney releases five years of conviction data
Reports show local rates above state averages
– San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow announced conviction rate data for the San Luis Obispo County Superior Court, using information from California Judicial Council Court Statistics Reports for fiscal years 2020-21 through 2024-25.
According to the data, the county’s felony conviction rate remained between 81.8% and 85.8% during the five-year period. The rates were 81.8% in fiscal year 2020-21, 82.0% in 2021-22, 83.2% in 2022-23, 85.8% in 2023-24, and 82.4% in 2024-25.
Traffic misdemeanor conviction rates were 76.2% in 2020-21, 76.4% in 2021-22, 74.6% in 2022-23, 78.0% in 2023-24, and 79.9% in 2024-25, an increase of 3.7 percentage points over the five-year period.
The District Attorney’s Office compared the county’s results with statewide averages from the same California Judicial Council reports. Over the four fiscal years from 2021-22 through 2024-25, San Luis Obispo County recorded an average felony conviction rate of 83.3%, compared with the statewide average of 75.5%.
During the same period, the county’s average traffic misdemeanor conviction rate was 77.2%, compared with the statewide average of 69.3%.
In fiscal year 2024-25, the county’s felony conviction rate of 82.4% exceeded the statewide rate of 74.5% by 7.9 percentage points. The county’s traffic misdemeanor conviction rate of 79.9% exceeded the statewide rate of 69.1% by 10.8 percentage points.
The District Attorney’s Office noted that conviction rates include cases resolved through plea agreements and jury trials. The office stated that most cases are resolved through plea agreements, while a smaller number proceed to trial.
The office also stated that some cases that proceed to trial may result in acquittals or hung juries when prosecutors and defense attorneys cannot reach a resolution before trial.
“The profession of prosecution is one of the most rewarding callings in the law precisely because we are called to seek truth — not a particular outcome. We do not measure success by verdicts alone. We measure it by whether justice was done. Equally rewarding is the profound privilege of serving and supporting crime victims who have often endured the most difficult moments of their lives. They come to us at their most vulnerable, and they deserve our respect, our kindness, and our most passionate, fair advocacy. Every case we bring is an act of service — to the victim, to the community, and to the truth,” Dow said.
The District Attorney’s Office released the findings in its San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Criminal Case Conviction Rate Analysis covering fiscal years 2020-21 through 2024-25.
1 California Judicial Council, 2022 Court Statistics Report
2 California Judicial Council, 2023 Court Statistics Report
3 California Judicial Council, 2024 Court Statistics Report
4 California Judicial Council, 2025 Court Statistics Report
5 California Judicial Council FY 2024-25 county-level data
