California’s Epic Record-Keeping Fail — Nearly Half Million Criminal Cases Not Properly Reported

The Los Angeles County Superior Court quietly disclosed that nearly half a million criminal cases dating back to 1965 were never properly reported to the state due to a “technical error.”

According to an FAQ page on California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s state website, the LACSC “recently identified a backlog of roughly” 464,005 criminal cases that went unreported between 1965 and 2023. As a result, individuals arrested in Los Angeles County “may not have their dismissals or convictions currently reflected in their criminal records in the statewide repository.”

In a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation, the LACSC explained that modernization of the Court’s Trial Court Information System (TCIS) began in 2016 to replace the legacy system originally installed in the 1980s. The upgrade aimed to introduce a “new platform that would deliver significant efficiencies and features to court operations.”

The full implementation of the new criminal case management system, including an updated automated transmission process and weekly exception reporting for new cases, began by November 2023. Nearly two years later, in June 2025, the Court discovered a “potentially large number of unreported” cases.

“As part of the legacy CMS decommissioning process, the Court identified a significant backlog of ADR [Alternative Dispute Resolution] submissions in 2025. It began an investigation to determine whether the identified records were in the DOJ criminal history database,” the LACSC told the DCNF. “The investigation reduced the backlog, but a significant backlog remains.”

ADRs, or Arrest Disposition Reports, are official records of how a criminal case concluded (such as conviction or dismissal) that courts are required to submit to the state Department of Justice for updating criminal history records.

The Court identified the root cause as “a lack of technical programming in TCIS.” The system failed to flag reporting errors with individual ADRs, “making it impossible for Court staff to identify instances where ADRs were not properly reported.”

The investigation concluded by January, when the nearly half-million unreported criminal cases were identified. The state Department of Justice (DOJ) “immediately and proactively” began working with the Court to resolve the error, according to the state site.

“All of the delinquent ADRs are being transmitted to DOJ at this time, and DOJ is working to process them into its system. The Court also reevaluated its current CMS to ensure that the current system does not replicate these issues,” the LACSC told the DCNF.

A breakdown of the backlog is publicly listed on the Court’s website. Of the estimated 464,000 criminal cases, the Court believes the ADRs represent approximately 408,000 individuals, including those with both felony and misdemeanor convictions and dismissals.

As of Tuesday, current Court data shows 147,631 felony convictions, 61,075 felony dismissals, 233,003 misdemeanor convictions and 22,238 misdemeanor dismissals. Among individuals with felony convictions in the backlog, 28,225 had prior DOJ records and 49,069 had subsequent DOJ records. For misdemeanor convictions, 43,879 had prior DOJ records, 52,236 had subsequent DOJ records.

The implications of this backlog extend to employers across California who rely on state DOJ background checks for hiring decisions. For decades, particularly between 1986 and 2006 when the bulk of these unreported cases occurred, individuals with felony or misdemeanor convictions may have passed Live Scan fingerprint screenings unscathed, potentially landing jobs in sensitive fields like education, healthcare or security.

As the DOJ processes the delinquent records, employers could face sudden updates through the Applicant Agency Justice Connection portal, triggering reevaluations of current employees and potential terminations if newly revealed convictions violate company policies or state laws.

While it is unclear when the backlogs will fully be rendered, the FAQ page states that most of the records will be handled through an automated process within a six-week time frame. However, there’s anticipation for an estimated 10% of the total backlog needing additional analysis, which could take months to complete before the updates will be made to the state summary criminal history information.

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