This time, we’re reviewing the most recent data for which trial courts accounted for the Supreme Court’s criminal cases from the Fifth District.

In 2005, the Court decided three cases from Kern county and one each from Fresno, Merced, Tulare and Tuolumne counties.  In 2006, the Court decided two cases from Kern and one from Fresno.  In 2007, the Court decided three cases from Tulare county.  In 2008, the Court decided one case from Kings county.  In 2009, there was one case each from Fresno, Kern, Kings and Madera counties.

In 2010, the Court decided one case from Kings county.  The following year, there was one case each from Kern, Kings and Tulare counties.  In 2012, Kern county produced two cases and Madera and Tulare counties accounted for one each.  In 2013, Kern county once again accounted for two cases, while Kings and Stanislaus counties produced one each.

The Court decided no criminal cases at all from the Fifth District in 2015, 2016 or 2019.  In 2017, the Court decided one case from Kern county and one from Tuolumne county.  In 2018, the Court decided one case each from Fresno, Stanislaus and Tulare counties.

Finally, we compare each county’s share of the Fifth District’s population to its share of the civil and criminal caseload.

Fresno county accounts for 27.91% of the population of the Fifth District according to the 2010 census.  By population, it’s arguably underrepresented on the criminal docket, accounting for only 20.51% of the cases, but Fresno produced 37.25% of the civil cases.  Kern county is the reverse: 25.17% of the population, 35.9% of the criminal cases, 25.49% of the civil.  Stanislaus county is imbalanced too: 15.43% of the population, only 3.85% of the criminal cases and 15.69% of the civil cases.  Tulare county has 13.08% of the population and produced 17.95% of the criminal cases but only 7.84% of the civil.  Merced county accounts for 7.71% of the Fifth District’s population but is comparatively rare on the Supreme Court’s docket – 2.56% of the criminal cases, 1.97% of the civil.  Madera county is 4.43% of the population and 6.41% of the criminal cases but has had no civil cases on the Supreme Court docket at all.  Kings county has 4.25% of the population and accounted 6.41% of the criminal cases and 5.88% of the civil cases.  Tuolumne county is comparatively common on the Court’s docket – 1.53% of the population, but 6.41% of the criminal cases and 5.88% of the civil.  Mariposa county is a non-player on the Court’s docket – 0.49% of the Fifth District population, but no civil or criminal cases.

Join us next time as we begin reviewing the data for the Sixth District.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Brian (no changes).