Wednesday, February 25, 2026
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LASC Admits Failure to Report Dispositions to DOJ in Nearly Half Million Criminal Cases
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The Los Angeles Superior Court yesterday admitted to having failed to report the outcome of approximately 464,000 criminal matters dating back to the 1980s to the California Department of Justice due to alleged technical issues with a case management system, acknowledging that the error may have led to inaccurate and incomplete rap sheets for the affected individuals.
Saying that “individuals with an arrest record may not currently have their arrest outcome accurately reflected in their criminal history record,” the court admitted that “impacted individuals may see their criminal records updated” and “may…qualify for expungement or resentencing relief.”
In addition to implications in criminal cases, in which rap sheets are used to establish prior convictions for strikes and other sentencing enhancements as well as playing into filing decisions by prosecutors in determining whether to pursue felony or misdemeanor charges, the failure affects background checks relied upon by employers, public sector agencies, and landlords in selecting suitable candidates.
Not Reported
Yesterday’s public statement says:
“Of the approximately 464,000 impacted cases, the Court has identified approximately 380,000 instances with convictions where the case’s [arrest disposition report (“ADR”)] was not successfully reported to the DOJ. Of those, roughly 147,000 involved cases with felony convictions, and roughly 233,000 were cases with misdemeanor convictions. Approximately 84,000 cases were dismissals in which ADRs were not successfully reported to the DOJ. Of those, roughly 61,000 involved felony dismissals, and roughly 23,000 involved misdemeanor dismissals.”
Blaming an old criminal case management program, the Trial Court Information System (“TCIS”), the court pointed out that it “embarked on a modernization project in 2016 to introduce a new platform that would deliver significant efficiencies and features to court operations” and that the updated system has been in effect since 2023.
Majority of Cases
According to the court, the “majority of the unreported cases span…the early 1980s to 2006” but some of the unreported dispositions were entered as recently as 2022.
Saying that “[t]he Court is committed to building public trust and confidence in the judicial system, and that demands transparency when the Court falls short of its standards,” Executive Officer and Clerk of Court David W. Slayton remarked:
“At the end of the day, it is most important that the criminal history records be complete and accurate, and the Court has taken steps to ensure this is the case. The Court is collaborating with the California Department of Justice to mitigate the backlog as expeditiously as possible. The Court’s leadership team has devoted significant resources to modernizing the Court’s infrastructure through innovation and forward-thinking investments to ensure an incident of this magnitude does not occur again.”
Copyright 2026, Metropolitan News Company