Prosecutorial Data in Maine: Themes and Trends from 2017-2021

The Maine SAC is staffed by the University of Southern Maine (USM) Muskie School of Public Service (MSPS). The Maine SAC will use FY21 SJS funds for a Core Capacity project, in collaboration with the Maine Prosecutors’ Association, to analyze a cohort of data and use that data to develop recommendations for balancing limited resources to the prosecutorial districts. The project will establish statewide and district level baseline figures that can subsequently be used for comparative purposes. The project team will do so by delivering descriptive, trend, and analysis of prosecutorial data for the period covering 2017-21 for each district and aggregated at the state level. The report will establish conviction rates over the five years by district for a variety of criminal case types. The report will assess the number of defendants charged by district, and will examine the number of individuals diverted as well as those individuals whose cases are assigned to specialty courts (e.g., drug court, mental health court). In addition, the report will examine how the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the number of and types of cases the DAs have responded to over the last two years of the study period. The Maine SAC will obtain data for the project from Maine District Attorneys Technical Services (MEDATS).