Santa Clara County — Criminal Defense Intelligence
Comprehensive intelligence briefing for Santa Clara County’s criminal justice system — Silicon Valley’s largest court with the highest bail amounts, worst defense funding parity among large counties, and a prosecutor-heavy bench that defense attorneys must navigate strategically.
Criminal Filings
42,800
Cases/Judge
563
Vacancies
6 / 82
PD/DA Parity
0.53
Median Bail
$60K
Pretrial Detention
72.4%
Santa Clara County Court System
Caseload, disposition, and judicial capacity data — FY 2023-24.
Criminal Filings
42,800
12,400 felonies · 30,400 misdemeanors
Dispositions
40,100
93.7% clearance rate
Pending Cases
14,850
+4.2% YoY growth
Cases per Judge
563
Largest Bay Area court
Avg Days to Disposition
168
Trial Rate
1.8%
Infractions
78,200
Warning Signal
Santa Clara is the Bay Area’s largest court with 42,800 criminal filings. With 4.2% backlog growth and only 93.7% clearance rate, pending cases are accumulating.
Bench Composition
Judicial profiles, vacancies, and demographics — 2024.
Authorized Judgeships
82
76 filled
Vacancies
6
7.3% vacancy rate
Commissioners
14
90 total bench officers
Criminal Assignments
24
22 civil · 18 family · 12 juvenile
Judicial Demographics
Gender
Male: 40 (53%)
Female: 35 (46%)
Nonbinary: 1
Race/Ethnicity
White: 32 (42%)
Hispanic: 14
Asian: 17
Black: 6
Other/Declined: 7
Prior Career
Prosecutor: 30 (39%)
Public Defender: 12 (16%)
Private Practice: 22
Government: 8
Prosecutor-heavy bench: 30 prosecutors (39%) vs only 12 defenders (16%)
Appointed By
Newsom: 28
Brown: 32
Schwarzenegger: 12
Other: 4
Avg years on bench: 11.2
Retirement Eligible (5yr)
18 judges
23.7% of bench
Vacancy Rate
7.3%
6 positions vacant
Prosecution & Defense Funding
DA vs PD budgets, charging patterns, and resource parity — FY 2023-24.
DA Budget
$155M
200 attorneys
PD Budget
$82M
120 attorneys
PD/DA Ratio
0.53
$73M gap to parity
Attorney Ratio
0.60
200 DA vs 120 PD
Decline Rate
10.2%
Diversion Rate
11.5%
Felony Filing Rate
645/100K
Case Review
8 days
Critical Alert
Santa Clara has the worst defense funding parity among large Bay Area counties (0.53). The public defender receives 53 cents per DA dollar. The gap to parity is $73 million.
Charging Patterns
Pretrial Detention & Bail
Jail population, pretrial detention, and release patterns — 2023.
Avg Daily Jail Pop
3,420
83.5% capacity
Detention Rate
72.4%
Median Bail
$60K
Highest in Bay Area
OR Release Rate
30.2%
Pretrial Detainees
2,476
Largest in Bay Area
Avg Days Detained
28
FTA Rate
13.8%
Pretrial Staff
25
Alert: Highest Bail Amounts
Santa Clara has the highest median bail ($60K) and highest average bail ($112.5K) in the Bay Area. Defense should prepare ability-to-pay arguments under In re Humphrey.
Release Types
Risk assessment tool: Public Safety Assessment (PSA)
Specialty Courts
Data Sources
Related Intelligence
Explore All 9 Bay Area Counties
Compare Santa Clara with other counties — court, judicial, prosecution, and pretrial data.