For victims & survivors
The public record belongs to everyone the system touches.
The criminal courts are open to the public, and the record of how cases are resolved belongs to everyone the system touches. This page explains what that record can — and cannot — show, and points to well-known national resources. It is not legal advice.
The right of access is yours too
Open courtrooms are a public right — and that includes you.
In Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia, 448 U.S. 555 (1980), the Supreme Court recognized the public’s First Amendment right to attend criminal trials.
Source: U.S. Supreme Court. Full text at Justia: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/448/555/ · Historical/legal statement cited for context; not an endorsement of CaseParity or any product or service.
The constitutional right of access to criminal proceedings is a public right. It does not belong only to the press or to lawyers. As someone the system has touched, the documented record of how cases are resolved is open to you as much as to anyone.
What the record shows
The documented range of outcomes for a charge — across many past cases.
For a given charge in a given county, the public record contains the outcomes of many past cases. CaseParity organizes those outcomes into a documented range — the shortest, the longest, and the typical. A reader may compare a known outcome to that published range, but CaseParity does not look up, classify, evaluate, or comment on any individual case.
The inputs are limited by design. You provide only the charge, the county, and the date. There is no person lookup — CaseParity does not search by name, and no individual is identified in the data. Most agencies anonymize records before release; where a source instead transmits identifying fields — as Harris County, Texas does — CaseParity strips them at ingest before any downstream use. Either way, the published report contains zero defendant-identifying information.
What the record describes is variation, not a cause. It cannot tell you why any particular outcome occurred, and it does not predict what will happen in any case. It is a description of what has already been documented in the public record.
Charge
The offense, as classified in the public record. No personal details.
County
The jurisdiction where the case was resolved. No address, no name.
Date
The time period, so outcomes are compared against contemporaneous cases.
What research finds about fairness
For many survivors, a process perceived as fair matters as much as the sentence itself.
Research on victim experience has found that what survivors value most is often a process they perceive as fair.1 Being able to see how like cases were actually resolved is part of what makes a process legible. CaseParity organizes that comparison from the public record; it takes no position on any individual case or sentence.
1 Erez & Tontodonato (1992), Justice Quarterly 9(3):393–417 — perceived fairness of the process predicted victim satisfaction more strongly than sentence severity. View citation.
Research cited for context; not an endorsement of CaseParity or any product or service.
Where to get help
National resources for victims and survivors.
CaseParity is a data-transparency service, not a victim-services provider, and nothing here is legal advice. If you need support, the organizations below are well-known national resources. We don’t list phone numbers we can’t verify — follow the links for each organization’s current contact information.
National Center for Victims of Crime
A national nonprofit that provides information and connects victims of crime to services and support across the United States.
Visit victimsofcrime.org ↗Emotional support is available
If you are struggling, you are not alone, and help is available. If you are in immediate danger, contact local emergency services.
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — call or text 988.
- VictimConnect Resource Center — 1-855-4-VICTIM (1-855-484-2846).
External links are provided for convenience. CaseParity does not control and is not responsible for the content of third-party sites, and listing a resource is not an endorsement of any service or outcome.