Introduction: The prevalence of violence to first responders is reported in ranges of approximately 40% to 90%. Pennsylvania has a felonious assault statute to address such violence, but the prosecutorial process has been noted to cause first-responder dissatisfaction.
Methods: An exploratory qualitative study using individual interviews with snowball sampling was conducted with the Philadelphia District Attorney's office to understand the prosecutorial process when a first responder is assaulted and injured in a line of duty.