Magistrates’ Court Statistics (Provisional Statistics)
January – March 2012

During the quarter;

• There were 1,156 scheduled magistrates’ sittings
• There were 12,853 new adult criminal defendants were received in court and 13,159 adult defendants were disposed of.
• 1,619 new civil applications were received and 1,456 civil applications were disposed of. 
• The average waiting time in the adult criminal court from first hearing to disposal was 7 weeks

During Jan – Mar 2012:

• A breakdown of magistrates’ sittings for January to March 2012 is outlined in the table below:

  	Scheduled	Additional	Special
  Criminal	782	39	62
  Youth	127	1	0
  Family	247	7	0
  Total	1,156	47	62

• During January to March 2012, 12,853 new adult criminal defendants were received in court and 13,159 adult defendants were disposed of (Figure 1)
  Figure 1: Percentage of adults entered and disposed of in the court divisions
  

  	Adults received	Adults disposed
  Craigavon	10%	10%
  Ards	10%	10%
  Armagh	11%	11%
  Fermanagh	15%	15%
  Antrim	11%	12%
  Londonderry	10%	10%
  Belfast	32%	32%

  
• The majority (78%) of prosecutions disposed of in the adult court were brought by PSNI/ PPS (77% in the same period in 2011).
• The volume of adult business was highest in the Division of Belfast
• The average waiting time in the adult criminal court from first hearing to disposal was 7 weeks. (Figure 2)
  Figure 2: Waiting times in weeks in adult magistrates’ courts (1^st hearing to disposal)
  

  Location	Time in weeks
  Craigavon	7.6
  Ards	6.0
  Armagh	5.7
  Fermanagh	4.7
  Antrim	7.4
  Londonderry	7.1
  Belfast	8.2

  
• During October to December 2011, 644 new defendants were entered in the youth court and 664 youth defendants were disposed of.
• Almost all prosecutions (99.4%) disposed of in the youth court were brought by PSNI/ PPS (99.4% in the same period in 2011).