Time since the conduct
The security guidelines treat the passage of time as relevant but set no fixed interval. This page measures the decided record: for every case that dates its most recent incident, the years between that incident and the decision, split by how the case was resolved. Measured history with the counts behind every rate, not advice and not a prediction about any case. The duration of the process itself is addressed separately on measured timelines.
All measured concern types combined
Pooling every measured concern type below (8,164 measured concerns; a case measured under two types counts once per type): favorable decisions came a median of 3.0 years after the last incident, unfavorable ones 2.5 years. The share resolved favorably rises with time:
| Time since the last incident | Measured concerns | Resolved favorably |
|---|---|---|
| Still ongoing at the decision | 553 | 2.0% |
| Under 1 year | 782 | 14.5% |
| 1 to 2 years | 1,739 | 24.7% |
| 2 to 3 years | 1,802 | 30.2% |
| 3 to 5 years | 1,941 | 32.3% |
| 5 to 10 years | 1,021 | 35.7% |
| 10 years or more | 326 | 25.5% |
Time is one factor among many: older conduct is usually accompanied by other changes.
Drug involvement (Guideline H)
Among decided cases that date the last drug use, the median gap before a favorable decision was 2.5 years, against 2.2 years before an unfavorable one. The full breakdown:
| Time since the last drug use | Cases | Resolved favorably |
|---|---|---|
| Still ongoing at the decision | 121 | 0.8% |
| Under 1 year | 298 | 11.7% |
| 1 to 2 years | 916 | 25.4% |
| 2 to 3 years | 713 | 28.9% |
| 3 to 5 years | 655 | 28.7% |
| 5 to 10 years | 271 | 39.1% |
| 10 years or more | 33 | 12 of 33 |
2,886 of 3,588 decided cases date the conduct; the rest never state a date. Groups under 50 cases show raw counts instead of a rate.
Alcohol (Guideline G)
Among decided cases that date the last alcohol incident, the median gap before a favorable decision was 2.9 years, against 2.2 years before an unfavorable one. The full breakdown:
| Time since the last alcohol incident | Cases | Resolved favorably |
|---|---|---|
| Still ongoing at the decision | 259 | 2.3% |
| Under 1 year | 234 | 23.1% |
| 1 to 2 years | 308 | 25.3% |
| 2 to 3 years | 371 | 36.4% |
| 3 to 5 years | 384 | 43.5% |
| 5 to 10 years | 139 | 47.5% |
| 10 years or more | 18 | 10 of 18 |
1,454 of 2,112 decided cases date the conduct; the rest never state a date. Groups under 50 cases show raw counts instead of a rate.
Criminal conduct (Guideline J)
Among decided cases that date the most recent offense, the median gap before a favorable decision was 3.4 years, against 3.1 years before an unfavorable one. The full breakdown:
| Time since the most recent offense | Cases | Resolved favorably |
|---|---|---|
| Still ongoing at the decision | 155 | 2.6% |
| Under 1 year | 229 | 8.3% |
| 1 to 2 years | 449 | 21.4% |
| 2 to 3 years | 609 | 27.8% |
| 3 to 5 years | 738 | 29.7% |
| 5 to 10 years | 492 | 30.9% |
| 10 years or more | 231 | 21.2% |
2,748 of 3,927 decided cases date the conduct; the rest never state a date. Groups under 50 cases show raw counts instead of a rate.
Sexual behavior (Guideline D)
Among decided cases that date the most recent incident, the median gap before a favorable decision was 4.7 years, against 4.1 years before an unfavorable one. The full breakdown:
| Time since the most recent incident | Cases | Resolved favorably |
|---|---|---|
| Still ongoing at the decision | 13 | 0 of 13 |
| Under 1 year | 11 | 1 of 11 |
| 1 to 2 years | 29 | 3 of 29 |
| 2 to 3 years | 40 | 7 of 40 |
| 3 to 5 years | 71 | 22.5% |
| 5 to 10 years | 67 | 23.9% |
| 10 years or more | 34 | 6 of 34 |
252 of 633 decided cases date the conduct; the rest never state a date. Groups under 50 cases show raw counts instead of a rate.
Mishandling protected information (Guideline K)
Among decided cases that date the most recent violation, the median gap before a favorable decision was 3.1 years, against 3.0 years before an unfavorable one. The full breakdown:
| Time since the most recent violation | Cases | Resolved favorably |
|---|---|---|
| Still ongoing at the decision | 0 | 0 cases |
| Under 1 year | 8 | 4 of 8 |
| 1 to 2 years | 26 | 15 of 26 |
| 2 to 3 years | 40 | 17 of 40 |
| 3 to 5 years | 49 | 23 of 49 |
| 5 to 10 years | 22 | 12 of 22 |
| 10 years or more | 5 | 3 of 5 |
150 of 291 decided cases date the conduct; the rest never state a date. Groups under 50 cases show raw counts instead of a rate.
Misuse of IT systems (Guideline M)
Among decided cases that date the most recent misuse, the median gap before a favorable decision was 3.7 years, against 3.6 years before an unfavorable one. The full breakdown:
| Time since the most recent misuse | Cases | Resolved favorably |
|---|---|---|
| Still ongoing at the decision | 5 | 0 of 5 |
| Under 1 year | 2 | 0 of 2 |
| 1 to 2 years | 11 | 5 of 11 |
| 2 to 3 years | 29 | 11 of 29 |
| 3 to 5 years | 44 | 14 of 44 |
| 5 to 10 years | 30 | 12 of 30 |
| 10 years or more | 5 | 3 of 5 |
121 of 297 decided cases date the conduct; the rest never state a date. Groups under 50 cases show raw counts instead of a rate.
By specific incident type
The same measurement, cut by the specific kinds of incidents a case alleged. A row is read as follows: among decided cases involving a DUI, the years between the last such incident and the decision, in cases resolved favorably and in cases resolved unfavorably.
| Incident type | Dated cases | Median years, favorable | Median years, unfavorable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marijuana | 2,536 | 2.4 | 2.1 |
| DUI / DWI (alcohol) | 1,108 | 3.0 | 2.2 |
| DUI / DWI (criminal) | 800 | 3.1 | 2.8 |
| Binge / intoxication pattern | 671 | 2.8 | 2.0 |
| Drug related criminal charge | 598 | 4.1 | 2.9 |
| Cocaine | 584 | 2.6 | 2.2 |
| Alcohol use disorder diagnosed | 474 | 2.6 | 1.9 |
| Assault / battery | 431 | 3.4 | 3.0 |
| Drug distribution / dealing | 410 | 2.4 | 2.0 |
| Continued use after treatment | 360 | 2.6 | 1.7 |
| Fraud / deception criminal | 348 | 5.1 | 3.2 |
| Stated intent to use again | 337 | 2.2 | 1.5 |
| Treatment non compliance | 333 | 2.6 | 1.8 |
| Theft / larceny | 308 | 4.1 | 4.0 |
| Psilocybin | 288 | 2.2 | 2.0 |
| Drug test failure | 287 | 3.3 | 2.2 |
Only incident types with at least 100 dated cases are shown. The time measured is to the most recent incident of that concern in the case. Each link opens the decided cases behind the number.
How these numbers are measured
Scope: decided hearing-level industrial cases in the public DOHA record, across six incident-shaped concern types (drugs, alcohol, criminal conduct, sexual behavior, protected information, IT misuse). For each case we read the date of the most recent conduct from the decision text itself, and every extracted date must be backed by an exact quote from the decision that contains that date; anything the text does not date is counted as undated rather than guessed. Dates anchor to the incident, arrest, or charge; where a decision dates nothing but the conviction, the conviction date stands in, which tends to understate the time passed. Dismissals, sentencing, and firings never count as conduct dates. Concern types that are ongoing situations rather than incidents (debts, diagnoses, family ties) are deliberately not measured this way. When only a year is stated, mid-year is assumed; a small number of cases with defective decision dates are excluded. Time is measured to the decision date, not to today. These are associations in decided history: more time passing is usually accompanied by other changes, and nothing here predicts any pending case. The rules the judges apply are described in the 13 guidelines.