CASE FLOW DATA

DeKalb County, GA

Last Updated July 20, 2025

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This data is collected by the DeKalb County District Attorney's Office - Operations Division from the county's case management system. It is designed to show how cases flow through the system from beginning to end and patterns in decision making and outcomes. Said information is entered by several agencies, including the DeKalb County Sherriff's Office (DKSO), DeKalb County Clerk of Superior Court (Clerk's Office). For more details on the data provided, please visit the Background Information section. The information below includes data from January 1, 2023 to May 28, 2025. To see year-to-year information, select Explore for each category.

Cases Received

After the police make an arrest or issue an arrest warrant for an individual who is suspected of a felony offense, the case makes its way to the District Attorney's Office. The arresting agency will provide a report summarizing the facts of incident. At which point, the District Attorney will initiate case review. 

Decisions upon Case Review

Case review involves a secondary investigation by the District Attorney's Office team of investigators. The office will decide whether to prosecute the individual and what charges to bring. Possible case review outcomes include: formal charging where prosecution proceeds to the next stage; the defendant is offered diversion; dismissal where the office declines to prosecute and the case is closed, though it could be reopened later if new evidence emerges. 

Cases that are Diverted

The DeKalb County District Attorney's Office strives to divert people from the criminal justice system where treatment, accountability, and safety for all involved parties can be accomplished. Diverted cases indicate a defendant was enrolled in a diversion program. 

How Cases End

A criminal case that is prosecuted to it's fullest extent can have several possible outcomes, including conviction, acquittal, or dismissal. In the criminal justice field, these outcomes are referred to as dispositions. 

How Cases Move Through the System

From the time that the District Attorney's Office becomes aware of a case, case movement is heavily impacted by judge's scheduling for arraignments, pretrials, and trial. Delays in the life cycle of a case can also occur for other reasons (e.g. additional lab reports and investigations are required, continuances may be requested, defendants, witnesses, and victims may be difficult to reach resulting in bench warrants or further continuances, etc.).