Snapshot: Criminal defendants in district courts, 2009
By Matt Carroll, Boston Globe | May 13, 2010
The number of criminal defendants handled by the state’s district courts varies widely. Springfield and Worcester saw more than 11,000 defendants each in 2009. Six courts saw fewer than 1,000 – Gloucester, Winchendon, Newton, Brookline, Ipswich and Nantucket. The state median was about 2,800. Here are the top 15 & bottom 15. (Boston courts are administered separately and are not included.)
Want to create your own chart, using this data? The Globe is introducing interactive charts that allow readers to create their own graphics. Click on “view data” in the lower right corner of the graphic to see the data. Then click on “visualize” at the bottom of the data, and pick the graphic display that you think works best. Click on “publish” to display the data to the Web. The charts are publicly displayed on many-eyes.com. Questions, comments, or suggestions? E-mail Matt Carroll at: mcarroll@globe.com or twitter.com/GlobeMattC.
| Court | Criminal defendants | Rank |
| Attleboro | 5,722 | 10 |
| Ayer | 1,947 | 47 |
| Barnstable | 3,687 | 20 |
| Brockton | 9,345 | 4 |
| Brookline | 877 | 60 |
| Cambridge | 3,527 | 22 |
| Chelsea | 4,437 | 13 |
| Chicopee | 2,187 | 42 |
| Clinton | 2,004 | 46 |
| Concord | 1,911 | 48 |
| Dedham | 2,433 | 35 |
| Dudley | 4,812 | 12 |
| East Brookfield | 2,440 | 34 |
| East Hampshire | 3,169 | 23 |
| Edgartown | 1,166 | 54 |
| Fall River | 8,173 | 6 |
| Falmouth | 3,163 | 24 |
| Fitchburg | 2,366 | 38 |
| Framingham | 4,092 | 15 |
| Gardner | 1,312 | 52 |
| Gloucester | 938 | 57 |
| Greenfield | 2,893 | 28 |
| Haverhill | 2,974 | 27 |
| Hingham | 2,818 | 30 |
| Holyoke | 3,986 | 18 |
| Ipswich | 656 | 61 |
| Lawrence | 8,024 | 7 |
| Leominster | 2,232 | 40 |
| Lowell | 8,651 | 5 |
| Lynn | 7,237 | 9 |
| Malden | 4,042 | 17 |
| Marlborough | 2,423 | 36 |
| Milford | 2,073 | 44 |
| Nantucket | 566 | 62 |
| Natick | 1,244 | 53 |
| New Bedford | 9,657 | 3 |
| Newburyport | 2,862 | 29 |
| Newton | 906 | 59 |
| No. Berkshire | 2,048 | 45 |
| Northampton | 1,477 | 51 |
| Orange | 1,035 | 56 |
| Orleans | 2,218 | 41 |
| Palmer | 2,095 | 43 |
| Peabody | 2,394 | 37 |
| Pittsfield | 2,818 | 30 |
| Plymouth | 4,183 | 14 |
| Quincy | 7,897 | 8 |
| Salem | 4,057 | 16 |
| So. Berkshire | 1,047 | 55 |
| Somerville | 3,133 | 25 |
| Springfield | 12,607 | 1 |
| Stoughton | 1,908 | 49 |
| Taunton | 5,170 | 11 |
| Uxbridge | 1,778 | 50 |
| Waltham | 2,807 | 32 |
| Wareham | 2,990 | 26 |
| Westborough | 2,636 | 33 |
| Westfield | 2,301 | 39 |
| Winchendon | 911 | 58 |
| Woburn | 3,708 | 19 |
| Worcester | 11,435 | 2 |
| Wrentham | 3,549 | 21 |
