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The number of new cases filed in New York's trial courts is continuing a years-long decline, with one of the most significant reductions seen in the Criminal Courts in New York City, where police and prosecutors have shifted away from heavy-handed approaches to low-level crimes.

According to a report that the Office of Court Administration released last month, the total number of filings in New York's trial courts was more than 3.27 million in 2017, down from about 3.4 million in the previous year.

The figures are part of a protracted downward trend in new filings in New York trial courts across criminal, civil, Family Court parts: In 2008, new filings reached a high-water mark of 4.67 million and that figure has ratcheted downward with each passing year.

The biggest driver in the downward trend was the New York City Criminal Courts, which handles lesser crimes and misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in jail has seen one of the sharpest declines—from more than 900,000 in 2009, to 808,868 in 2013 to 434,045 last year.

“The lion's share of that decline is the reduction in fillings in the New York City Criminal Courts,” said Lawrence Marks, the chief administrative judge for the state's court system.

Marks said the drop is attributable to recent changes in law enforcement practices in New York City.

In 2016, New York City passed a package of criminal justice reforms that included legislation allowing police to issue summonses for some low-level offenses and so-called quality of life offenses, like public urination and drinking in public, thus treating them as civil, rather than criminal, infractions.

But according to data from the New York City Council, the number of criminal summonses issued had been on the decline in the year leading up to the passage of the reform legislation, known collectively as the Criminal Justice Reform Act: there were more than 267,700 summonses issued in 2016, down from 544,678 in 2009.

Additionally, some district attorneys in the city are adopting less forceful approaches to the least-serious crimes, a retreat from the “broken windows” philosophy of law enforcement.

For example, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. announced last year his office would no longer prosecute turnstile jumping—known as “fare evasion” in law enforcement parlance—and minor drug offenses, which he said should keep tens of thousands of cases out of Criminal Courts each year.

On the civil side, the total number of civil cases filed statewide declined over the five-year period included in the annual report, but not nearly as sharply as new criminal filings: there were 1.45 million new civil filings in 2013, which steadily declined to about 1.3 million last year.

The decline in civil filings is mostly thanks to a sharp drop in foreclosure filings, which spiked dramatically in some New York counties following the 2008-09 financial crisis and—in places like Brooklyn and Queens, which have considerable expanses of shoreline—2012's Hurricane Sandy.

“It's the result of the strong economy and the strong housing market,” Marks said. “It took several years but we're certainly seeing that now.”

As for Family Courts, there were about 611,470 cases filed last year, down from almost 695,000 in 2009, but Marks said it is unlikely that downward trend will continue—the state has recently passed legislation to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 16 years old to 18, and new juvenile cases will be diverted to Family Courts.

Marks noted though that the age increase is being implemented gradually: The age of criminal responsibility increases to 17 in October and will increase to 18 in 2019.

Marks said though that Family Courts in New York City have recently seen an uptick in abuse and neglect cases brought by the city's Administration for Children's Services.

Last year, the city reported that ACS handled an average of 9.8 abuse and neglect cases from July to October 2016, up from 8.5 cases in the same period in the previous year.