Virginia repeat offenders and case outcomes

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Offense Court Offense year

Level

Defendant record

Incidents——

Repeat offender—prior conviction or a case pending at the time

5 or more prior convictions——

Repeat offenders: light outcome—dropped, no active time, or under 1 year

Repeat offenders: 1 year or more—active time to serve

What happened, by the defendant's record

Final result of each incident, as a share of resolved incidents, by the person's record at the time of the offense. "Pending case" means another case was open but there was no prior conviction.

Light outcomes: repeat offenders vs. first-time

Share of resolved incidents ending each way. The three light outcomes shown side by side.

By offense year

Share of incidents committed by a repeat offender, and share of repeat offenders' resolved incidents that ended light. Records begin in 2010, so early years undercount prior convictions.

Escalation: drugs and property → weapons → violence

People grouped by the path their record took, in date order. Tier 1 is drugs (possession), property, fraud, DUI and public order; tier 2 is weapons, drug distribution, threats and protective-order violations; tier 3 is violent. Uses the court filter; "record began" picks the year of each person's first case.

Record began

Record at the first violent charge

People charged with a violent offense for the first time (since 2010) in the selected years and court: their prior convictions, and whether an earlier case had ended light.

Defendants

Every case matching the filters above, by name, newest first. A charge is not a finding of guilt: the result column shows how each case ended. Confirm any case on the Virginia court system before relying on it.

Filter these rows by name

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Name	Offense date	Court	Top charge	Level	Record then	Result	Active time	Case numbers

Repeat felony defendants with the most light outcomes

People with at least three felony cases since 2010, committed while they had a prior conviction or a pending case, that ended dropped, with no active time, or under one year. Charges resolved together on the same day count once. Uses the court filter (by the court where most of their cases were). Fairfax is left out because its circuit results are not in the statewide data. A charge is not a finding of guilt; dropped and acquitted cases are listed because the outcome is the point.

Find a name

Name	Court

Search a person

Every criminal incident in Virginia district and circuit courts since 2010, for every defendant, including criminal traffic, court-process and ordinance cases (Fairfax circuit court is not in the statewide data). The defendant-record filter above narrows the cases shown. Type a last name, or LAST, FIRST. A charge is not a finding of guilt: each incident shows how it ended. Confirm any case on the Virginia court system before relying on it.

Name

By court

For the selected offense, level and years. Click a court to filter the page.

How this is counted

Source. Virginia General District and Circuit Court criminal case records (court data as of May 2026), cases filed 2010–2025. Felonies and all misdemeanors; traffic infractions left out. Fairfax circuit court does not take part in the statewide system, so Fairfax shows district court cases only: Fairfax felony incidents are counted but left out of outcome shares, and Fairfax prior convictions in circuit court are not seen.
Incident. One person's charges in district and circuit court are joined into one incident when they share a case number, an offense date, an arrest date or a filing date, or when a district case certified to the grand jury is followed by a circuit indictment within a year. People are matched by the court system's person ID, plus court, name and birth month-day.
Offense. The most serious charge in the incident, sorted into 26 categories and three tiers. The nine violent categories use the same rules as the Virginia Violent Crime Outcomes database. "All offenses" leaves out criminal traffic (such as driving on a suspended license), court-process offenses (failure to appear, contempt, obstruction) and minor ordinance and regulatory offenses (hunting and fishing, litter, animal control); choose "Everything" to include them.
Repeat offender. At the offense date the person had a conviction in an earlier incident, or an earlier incident was still open. Prior convictions are counted by separate court dates, so several charges resolved on the same day count once. Criminal traffic, court-process and minor ordinance cases do not count toward this. Records begin with 2010 filings, so prior convictions before 2010 are not seen.
Outcome. Dropped covers nolle prosequi, dismissal and acquittal in either court. Active time is the sentence minus the suspended part, added up across the incident's convictions. Unresolved cases (pending, fugitive, unknown) are left out of the shares.
Escalation. Each person's incidents (leaving out traffic, court-process and minor ordinance cases) in date order. "Drugs/property → weapons → violent" means a tier-1 incident, then a later tier-2 incident, then a later tier-3 incident. Charges, not convictions, set the path.

Built by Virginians for Safe Communities from Virginia district and circuit court case data (as of May 2026).