Lafayette Parish & City Court statistics

Lafayette Parish Court statistics

Derived from 15th Judicial District Court criminal case records for Lafayette Parish. Data as of Jul 28, 2026 at 12:26 PM. The dataset is live; these figures are recomputed from the current records at most once an hour and were last calculated Jul 28, 2026 at 4:27 PM UTC.

Population of Lafayette Parish, the territorial jurisdiction of the 15th Judicial District Court: 254,241 (U.S. Census Bureau, July 1, 2024 population estimate; the April 1, 2020 census count was 241,753). Population is shown for context only — no figure on this page is expressed per capita unless its own description says so.

Cases fully dismissed counts whole cases in which every charge was dismissed or nolle prossed — a single charge with any other outcome disqualifies the case. Only cases where all charges carry a recorded disposition are eligible, so cases with anything still pending are excluded from both the count and the base. That base is 55,890 fully adjudicated cases across all years — a distinct count of cases in a finished state, not a per-year flow, so it does not tie out to the cases-disposed figure above, giving a full-dismissal rate of 31.8%. A further 6,425 adjudicated cases had at least one charge dismissed alongside another outcome. Docket-event rows stored as charges (hearings, writs, orders) are excluded.

Data completeness

How much of the underlying data is missing for the fields these statistics rely on. Records missing a field are excluded from the related calculation rather than estimated — higher percentages mean the affected figures rest on less complete data.

Case filings by year

New criminal cases filed in the 15th Judicial District Court for Lafayette Parish, counted by the year the case was filed. Each case counts once, so the per-type columns sum to that year’s total and the shares sum to 100%. This measures court workload, not crime: it counts cases the District Attorney filed, not offenses committed or arrests made. Case types come from the court’s own case_type field and are grouped the same way as the complete case dismissals table. Other is every case whose case_type does not say felony, misdemeanor, or traffic — in this dataset those are: OUT OF PARISH, Family Court, (not recorded), DRUG COURT, SOBRIETY COURT, ARCHIVED. Closed calendar years are complete; only the year still in progress is marked, since it covers a partial year of filings.

Clearance rate by year

Cases disposed in a calendar year as a percentage of cases filed that same year (NCSC CourTools Measure 2). Filings and dispositions are counted as two independent flows, so this measures how well the court keeps pace with incoming volume. The rate can exceed 100% when the court resolves more cases than were filed. Full definition →

Complete case dismissals by year

Cases in which every charge was dismissed or nolle prossed — the case-level counterpart to the charge disposition breakdown further down this page. Cohorts are keyed to filing year, not disposition year: a case is one unit and its charges may resolve across several calendar years. Each rate is dismissed cases as a share of that cohort’s fully adjudicated cases; cases with any charge still pending are excluded from both figures, so recent years are thin and their rates volatile. Rates resting on fewer than 5 adjudicated cases are suppressed.

Time to disposition by year

Average and median days from case filing to charge disposition (NCSC CourTools Measure 3). Per-type columns show the median for each case class. Same-day dispositions are excluded.

Cases disposed within time standards

Of charges that have been disposed, the cumulative share reaching disposition within each interval, measured from filing date (NCSC CourTools Measure 3). Each column is cumulative.

Pending caseload by filing year

Cases with at least one charge that has no recorded disposition — not yet resolved (NCSC CourTools Measure 4, counted per case).

Age of pending caseload

How long pending cases have been open, measured from filing date to today. 20,893 pending cases total. Records begin around February 2019, so the oldest bucket is sparse and may include cases whose disposition was never entered.

Average days from offense to filing

Average days from offense date to case filing date, by filing year and case type. Only charges with both an offense date and a filing date present are included; cases where filing predates the offense are excluded.

Cases by type

Distribution of cases across case-type classifications.

Charge disposition breakdown

How charges were resolved, by disposition.

Charges by offense category

Charges grouped into offense categories (violent, property, drug, DUI, criminal traffic, non-criminal traffic, public order, family/support) by mapping each normalized Louisiana Revised Statute number through a published crosswalk. These categories align with the offense taxonomy used by court-data projects such as Measures for Justice, itself modified from the Bureau of Justice Statistics offense codes used in the National Corrections Reporting Program — weapons offenses fall under public order. Statutes not in the crosswalk appear as Unclassified rather than being guessed. Categorization reflects the charge as finally recorded (post-amendment). “Court Event” rows are hearings and orders entered in the source data as charges; they are excluded from the headline charge count. This table counts charges; projects that classify each case by its single most serious charge will produce different totals from the same records.

Alternative resolutions

Dispositions resolving a charge outside straight conviction or dismissal: statutory deferrals (which can end in the conviction being set aside), specialty courts, prosecutorial diversion, and screening outcomes. Categories are assigned by exact match against the court’s recorded disposition vocabulary — codes not in the map are never guessed into a category. Felony deferrals under La. C.Cr.P. art. 893 are not marked in this court’s records — a completed 893 appears only as a dismissal — so dismissal counts include an unknowable number of successful felony deferrals. District-level pretrial diversion likewise ends as an unmarked dismissal.

Convictions via amended or lesser charge

Of charges resolving in a guilty outcome (plea or verdict), the share recorded as an amended or lesser charge, by disposition year. The record shows that the charge was reduced, not why — this measures the court record’s account of plea practice, not prosecutorial intent, and it does not capture reductions made before filing. Charges with the unconfirmed “APG” code are excluded pending a public-records confirmation of its meaning.

Mixed outcomes in multi-charge cases

Multi-charge cases resolving with at least one guilty outcome and at least one dismissed or nolle prossed charge, by filing year — the pattern consistent with count bargaining, though the record cannot distinguish a negotiated dismissal from one made for evidentiary reasons.

Most common charge amendments

Original charge and the charge it was amended to, as recorded at disposition. Minimum 5 occurrences per pair to appear.

Sentence lengths by disposition

Median and average sentence length in days, for the dispositions that most commonly carry sentences. Sentence text is parsed from the raw sentence_length field and converted to days by its stated unit (years × 365, months × 30, weeks × 7); values whose unit cannot be recognized are excluded rather than guessed, so the count reflects only parseable sentences. Minimum 5 parseable charges to appear. The median is shown first because sentence lengths are heavily skewed.

Sentence composition

How sentences are structured on charges with a guilty outcome or a deferred adjudication (Arts. 894/892.1), from the recorded sentence, suspended, and probation terms. Durations are unit-parsed (compound values like “7 years, 6 months” supported). “Net time” is the median sentence minus its suspended portion — the custodial exposure the record shows, which may differ from time actually served (credit, parole, and concurrency are not visible here). “No recorded terms” is typically fine-only or unrecorded.

Excluded from this table (counted, not guessed): 25 bounds, 255 inconsistent, 67 unparseable. “Unparseable” means a duration whose unit could not be recognized; “inconsistent” means a suspension without or exceeding its sentence; “bounds” means probation over 8 years, which exceeds any lawful term (La. C.Cr.P. arts. 893/894) and is treated as a data error.

Defendant age at filing

Age at case filing, from the court-recorded date of birth, in the age bands used by comparable court-data projects.

324 records excluded: ages under 18 or out of range — a mix of juveniles charged as adults and date-of-birth entry errors the record cannot distinguish.

Indigent-defense appointment rate

Felony and misdemeanor cases with an affirmative Indigent Defenders’ Office marker in the docket activity record (an IDO appointment or an IDO-filed pleading), by filing year. This counts appointment at any point — counsel may later be retained — and is based on docket codes only, not prose minutes, which also contain referrals and negatives. Because appointments enter the record at or after arraignment, the most recent filing years are incomplete by nature and their rates will rise as cases reach arraignment.

Bond amounts by case type

Median, average, minimum, and maximum bail set per case type. The median is shown first because bail amounts are heavily skewed — a single very large bond can pull the average far above what is typical. Minimum 5 cases to appear. Source: case_bail_summary table.

Bond amounts by race

Race from search_results (court-recorded demographic field, which may be incomplete or inconsistently entered). Raw race codes are grouped into four buckets to correct for varied data entry. Groups with fewer than 5 cases are suppressed. Compare medians before averages — bail is heavily skewed, and these figures do not control for charge severity or history, so differences here are a starting point for questions, not a finding.

Bond amounts by sex

Groups with fewer than 5 cases are suppressed. Median shown first — bail amounts are heavily skewed.

Cases by arresting agency (top 15)

Distinct cases per arresting agency derived from the charges table. Race and sex breakdowns are available in the interactive tool.

Warrant / failure-to-appear by year

Two measures per filing year. "Had a warrant" counts cases where a warrant was issued at any point (the failure-to-appear rate, which does not decrease when warrants are later recalled). "Outstanding now" counts cases whose warrant is currently active per the court’s own most-recent status — the same basis as the public warrants list.

Repeat defendant distribution

Defendants appearing in 2 or more records combined across Parish Court and City Court, matched by name and date of birth.

Top charges by outcome

Most common charge + disposition pairs (all-time). Year-filtered views are available in the interactive tool.

Top charges by RS code

Charges grouped by normalized Louisiana Revised Statute number — sub-section suffixes stripped so variants of the same statute merge into one row. Entries with no RS number are excluded. Count reflects individual charge records.

DA / ADA outcomes

Charge dispositions by name. Minimum 10 charges to appear. Dismissal variants are merged. Columns are ordered by volume and continue past the right edge — scroll the table sideways to see them all. Showing first 50; use the interactive tool to filter.

Attorney outcomes

Charge dispositions by name. Minimum 10 charges to appear. Dismissal variants are merged. Columns are ordered by volume and continue past the right edge — scroll the table sideways to see them all. Showing first 50; use the interactive tool to filter.

Lafayette City Court statistics

Derived from Lafayette City Court records — violations, case statuses, pleas, fines, and probation data. Data as of Jul 27, 2026 at 9:58 PM.

Cases fully dismissed counts whole cases in which every violation was dismissed or nolle prossed — a single violation with any other outcome disqualifies the case. Only cases where all violations carry a recorded disposition are eligible, so cases with anything still pending are excluded from both the count and the base. That base is 187,352 fully adjudicated cases across all years — a distinct count of cases in a finished state, not a per-year flow, so it does not tie out to the cases-disposed figure above, giving a full-dismissal rate of 17.0%. Records with no case number cannot be grouped into a case and are excluded.

Data completeness

How much of the underlying data is missing for the fields these statistics rely on. Records missing a field are excluded from the related calculation rather than estimated — higher percentages mean the affected figures rest on less complete data.

Case filings by year

Top violations

Most frequently recorded violations.

Disposition breakdown

How violations were resolved.

Most common charge amendments

Original charge and the charge it was amended to, as recorded at disposition. Minimum 10 occurrences per pair to appear.

Alternative resolutions

Dispositions resolving a charge outside straight conviction or dismissal: statutory deferrals (which can end in the conviction being set aside), specialty courts, prosecutorial diversion, and screening outcomes. Categories are assigned by exact match against the court’s recorded disposition vocabulary — codes not in the map are never guessed into a category. “Pending” deferral labels are not reliably updated on completion — some pending entries are on offenses old enough that the two-year deferral has long resolved — so completed deferrals are undercounted and pending counts overstate active deferrals. PTD is the District Attorney’s pretrial diversion program.

Case status breakdown

Current status recorded for each case. BW = Bench Warrant, FW = Failure to Appear. Some status codes are still being confirmed via a public-records request (see methodology).

Warrant / failure-to-appear by year

Records whose current City Court status is Bench Warrant, Failure to Appear, or Regular Warrant, as a percentage of records filed that year. City Court status reflects the current state recorded by the court, so this is a present-status measure.

Avg days from offense to arraignment

Average days from date of offense to first scheduled arraignment, by case type prefix (CC, CT, SC, ST, DT). Same-day and negative intervals excluded. Values show avg days.

Avg days from arraignment to sentence

Average days from latest scheduled arraignment to sentence date, by case type. Only cases where sentence date follows arraignment are included. Values show avg days.

Repeat defendant distribution

Defendants appearing in 2 or more records combined across Parish Court and City Court, matched by name and date of birth.