06/09/2026
San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow today announced conviction rate data for the San Luis Obispo County Superior Court, drawn from California Judicial Council Court Statistics Reports for Fiscal Years 2020–21 through 2024–25, (1,2,3,4,5).
The office's felony conviction rate has remained remarkably stable and strong over the five-year period: 81.8% (FY 2020–21), 82.0% (FY 2021–22), 83.2% (FY 2022–23), 85.8% (FY 2023–24), and 82.4% (FY 2024–25) — a five-year range of 81.8% to 85.8%. The traffic misdemeanor conviction rate has shown steady improvement over the same period, rising from 76.2% to 76.4% to 74.6% to 78.0% to 79.9% — a net gain of 3.7 percentage points over five years. These figures reflect verified, county-level data for San Luis Obispo County Superior Court and speak to the consistent, professional work of this office's Deputy District Attorneys on behalf of victims and the community.
When measured against the California statewide average — drawn from the same Judicial Council Court Statistics Reports — San Luis Obispo County's performance is even more striking. Over the four fiscal years from 2021–22 through 2024–25, the SLO County DA's Office achieved an average felony conviction rate of 83.3%, compared to the statewide average of 75.5% — an advantage of nearly 8 percentage points every single year. The same pattern holds for traffic misdemeanors: SLO averaged 77.2% against a statewide average of 69.3%, again outperforming California by roughly 8 points consistently. In FY 2024–25 alone, SLO's felony conviction rate of 82.4% exceeded the statewide rate of 74.5% by 7.9 points, and the traffic misdemeanor rate of 79.9% exceeded the statewide rate of 69.1% by 10.8 points — the widest gap recorded in the five-year period.
The most important goal of a prosecutor is to seek the truth - not to secure a conviction. Conviction rate includes dispositions of all cases whether resolved by plea or trial. Most cases are resolved by plea agreement and a select few are resolved with a jury trial. A dedicated District Attorney's office is willing to prosecute even difficult cases by jury trial — cases involving contested facts, complex evidence, or close questions at the standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. While cases with the most compelling evidence of guilt are much more likely to resolve without a trial, cases with possible defenses and disputes of fact are more likely to conclude with a trial.
Those cases that end up in trial courts where a resolution cannot be reached between defense and prosecutor sometimes end in a hung jury or an acquittal. That is not failure; that is justice in action. Accordingly, Deputy District Attorneys in this office are never rated on their jury trial conviction rate. We do not incentivize prosecutors to protect a statistic by avoiding the difficult trials that victims and the community deserve to have heard. Justice requires that the District Attorney prosecute cases where we believe that we have sufficient evidence to prove guilt in court by the standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Strong cases typically resolve by plea, while more difficult cases resolve by trial.
"The profession of prosecution is one of the most rewarding callings in the law precisely because we are called to seek truth — not a particular outcome. We do not measure success by verdicts alone. We measure it by whether justice was done. Equally rewarding is the profound privilege of serving and supporting crime victims who have often endured the most difficult moments of their lives. They come to us at their most vulnerable, and they deserve our respect, our kindness, and our most passionate, fair advocacy. Every case we bring is an act of service — to the victim, to the community, and to the truth." — District Attorney Dan Dow
These conviction rates — consistent in the low-to-mid 80s for felonies and rising steadily for traffic misdemeanors — represent something far more meaningful than a number. They reflect the integrity, professionalism, and courage of the men and women of the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney's Office who stand up every day for crime victims and pursue accountability with both diligence and fairness. The residents of San Luis Obispo County deserve a criminal and victim justice system in which prosecutors do their jobs honestly, where the evidence guides every decision, and where no case is declined simply to keep a statistic clean. That is the commitment of this office — today and every day. We are proud of these results, and we are proud of the ethical framework that produced them.
For the full press release, visit our website linked in comments below.
Dan Dow District Attorney
