As you can see, domestic violence reports filed by the deputies have gone up steadily for each year shown. There is a natural “weeding out” process from the Sheriff’s office on reports that are not suitable, for whatever reason, to ask the District Attorney’s Office to press charges on the incident. You can see, however, the reports turned over to the DA’s office have steadily gone up as well (shown in the second column). Part of the rise in numbers is probably due to Wagoner County’s population growth, as well as the deputy’s effort to report domestic violence crimes as Oklahoma Statutes dictate.

In the third column, Domestic Violence cases filed by the DA’s office are obviously fewer in number than those given to them by WCSO. Not only are the numbers less, but we really aren’t seeing a trend that even comes close to matching the rise in numbers of the first two columns of the chart.

But then we go on to column 4, which shows the number of cases actually prosecuted by the DA’s office. As you can see, we have dropped in numbers considerably once again. And, of that number, you can see that all but one year shows the numbers of the cases prosecuted where the original charges have been reduced in severity (see above column number 4)..

In column 5, you see the cases dismissed by the DA’s office for each year. The number is rising from 2003 thru 2005, which in 2005 is actually higher than the cases prosecuted! This shows a trend where the perpetrators of domestic violence are definitely not being held accountable for their crimes.

In the last column you see the number of cases that are still considered “Open”. A case can be open if the perpetrator was never apprehended and has a bench warrant for their arrest, or if the case is still being passed through the courts and has never been prosecuted, etc.