Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service

12th August 2011

Crown Court Statistics (Provisional Statistics)
April – June 2011

Figures published today by the NI Courts and Tribunals Service in the quarterly Crown Court Bulletin outline the Crown court business received and dealt with from the quarter April to June 2011.

During the quarter;

• There were 350  Crown cases received
• 454 defendants were received in Crown Court
• The average time from committal to hearing was 136 days
• There were 689  Crown court sittings

Ends

Notes for Editors

During Apr - Jun 2011:

• Cases received and dealt with:
  There were 350 Crown cases received during April to June 2011.  This was a 5% decrease on the 367 received during April to June 2010.
• Defendants received and dealt with:
  454 defendants were received in Crown Court during April to June 2011 (a 5% decrease since the same period last year, when 480 defendants were received).
• Waiting times:
  The average time from committal to hearing for April to June 2011 was 136 days, compared with 112 days for the same period in 2010.
• Disposals:
  County Court Judges disposed of 97% of defendants (561), compared with 95% of defendants in April to June 2010.
• Pleas and findings:
  Of the 581 defendants disposed in April to June 2011, 232 (40%) pleaded guilty to all charges.
• Crown Court sittings:
  In total there were 689 Crown court sittings for April to June 2011 compared with 704 for April to June 2010 (a decrease of 2%), with a total time of 2188 hours sat compared with 2000 hours sat during the same period last year.

(Please note that Easter recess took place in April in 2011, as opposed to March in 2010).

Important Notes:

Figures are computed from a live database and may change due to late returns and further validations.

Date of disposal is based on the date of sentencing, date of acquittal or date a bill of indictment is not proceeded with.

Waiting times do not exclude recess.

The full version is available at: www.courtsni.gov.uk

If you have any further queries or if you have difficulty viewing the figures please contact:   

Press Team
Communications Group
Northern Ireland Court Service
Laganside House
23-27 Oxford Street
Belfast
BT1 3LA

Tel. 028 9041 2284