Tarrant County Criminal Filings Down 7%, Murder Cases on Pace to Fall 33% in 2026
FORT WORTH, Texas - Criminal case filings in Tarrant County are declining in 2026, with murder filings on pace to fall by about one-third compared with last year, according to figures released by Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney Phil Sorrells.
Through mid-September, law enforcement agencies had filed 35,634 criminal cases with the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney's Office. If filings continue at the same pace through December, the office projects the year will end about 7% below 2025, when it received 48,380 cases.
The decline is sharper for murder cases.
The DA's office received 150 murder cases in 2025. Through mid-September this year, 73 had been filed. Based on the current pace, the office projects murder filings will finish 2026 approximately 33% below last year's total.
"We are seeing fewer cases coming through our doors, and the decline in murder cases is especially encouraging," Sorrells said. "Our filing numbers are consistent with the declining violent crime numbers being reported by law enforcement agencies across Tarrant County."
The filing figures represent cases submitted to prosecutors and are not, by themselves, the same measure as the number of crimes reported by police. The DA's office receives cases investigated by law enforcement agencies throughout Tarrant County.
There is evidence of declining crime in at least some of the county's largest cities. Arlington reported overall crime fell 12% from 2024 to 2025, its fourth consecutive annual decline. Crimes against persons fell 14%, while homicides declined from 17 in 2024 to 15 in 2025.
Fort Worth Police also publishes quarterly crime reports for 2026, providing a separate measure of reported offenses within the county's largest city.
The reduction in new filings comes as Tarrant County has also been working through a criminal court backlog that grew substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the DA's office, the pending criminal caseload reached 48,106 cases in August 2021. It had fallen to 38,625 when Sorrells took office in January 2023 and stood at 30,921 as of March 1, 2026.
Sorrells also pointed to lengthy prison sentences imposed in serious cases as a factor he believes contributes to public safety.
"Repeat violent offenders who are serving long sentences in prison are not on our streets committing more crimes," Sorrells said. "The hard work of law enforcement and our prosecutors is paying dividends for this community."
That statement reflects the district attorney's assessment of what is driving the decline. The filing statistics alone do not establish what caused crime levels to change, and factors such as policing strategies, demographics, economic conditions, prosecution practices and changes in reporting can affect crime and case-filing trends.
The DA's office handled more than 48,000 new cases during 2025 and conducted more than 320 jury trials, according to its previously published annual figures.
