(MT. VERNON, IL) — Area courts were busy in 2016, and Jefferson County topped the list on cases filed with 458 criminal felonies, that’s down from 2015 when they filed 484, but much fewer than the 765 filed in 2006. Marion County followed closely with 424 criminal cases filed in 2016, compared to 389 the previous year, according to online court records, and a big decrease from 10 years earlier, when 572 criminal felony cases were charged. Clinton County saw 201 felony cases filed in 2016, compared to 185 in 2015, and 192 in 2006. Washington County filed 142 criminal felonies this last year, almost twice the 86 filed last year and still more than the 114 10 years earlier. Criminal misdemeanors remained fairly steady in those four counties from 2015 to 2016, with the exception of Jefferson County, which dropped from 524 misdemeanor cases in 2015 to 398 in 2016. Jefferson and Marion counties each saw a significant drop in misdemeanor cases from 2006 to 2016, going from 656 cases filed to only 398 in Jefferson County and from 699 in 2006 to 387 in 2016 for Marion County. Washington County also saw a drop from 341 misdemeanor cases in 2006 to only 198 in 2016. Driving under the influence cases remained fairly steady between 2014 and 2015, but all four counties saw statistical drops in DUIs charged in the last decade.