Crown Court Bulletin April to June 2011 (Provisional Figures)

Contents

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.

Data source and validations:

Data from the Integrated Courts Operations System (ICOS) are used for this publication.  This system has been chosen as it is the main system within the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service (NICTS).  The data are input to this system on a daily basis.  A download from this system is supplied to the Statistics and Research team on a weekly basis on flat files.

This information is downloaded via SPSS and validations are produced from this system to ensure that the data are reliable and robust for use.  Any inconsistencies are reported back to individual court offices and if required, any necessary amendments are made to the data.  Once, these amendments have been checked, computer syntax is then used to produce the tables in the bulletin.  The aggregated total figures in the bulletin are produced from the computer syntax.  The data are broken down by court location as this is the established way of producing and presenting these data.

To ensure that timely data are used, the latest available extract is used to compile this bulletin.

Summary

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

Year Number of Defendants
2007 472
2008 549
2009 420
2010 460
2011 581

Table 1 - Crown Court cases received
  Total
Belfast 125
Londonderry 29
Antrim 23
Fermanagh and Tyrone 49
Armagh and South Down 36
Ards 44
Craigavon 46
Total 350

Table 2 - Crown Court cases disposed
  Total
Belfast 149
Londonderry 50
Antrim 41
Fermanagh and Tyrone 61
Armagh and South Down 38
Ards 41
Craigavon 54
Total 434

Table 3 - Crown Court defendants received
  Total
Belfast 179
Londonderry 35
Antrim 31
Fermanagh and Tyrone 55
Armagh and South Down 47
Ards 53
Craigavon 54
Total 454

Table 4 - Crown Court defendants disposed
  Total
Belfast 218
Londonderry 60
Antrim 46
Fermanagh and Tyrone 73
Armagh and South Down 55
Ards 53
Craigavon 76
Total 581

Table 5 - Waiting times in days
  Committal to hearing - days Conviction to disposal - days Total defendants disposed
Belfast 180 54 208
Londonderry 126 66 56
Antrim 121 51 45
Fermanagh and Tyrone 101 38 67
Armagh and South Down 87 37 49
Ards 93 35 53
Craigavon 118 42 68
Total 136 48 546

[1] Excludes defendants who had a bench warrant or deferred sentence

Table 6 - Crown Court defendants disposed by judge type
  Judicial Level Total
County Court Judge High Court Judge
Belfast 204 14 218
Londonderry 60   60
Antrim 45 1 46
Fermanagh and Tyrone 72 1 73
Armagh and South Down 55   55
Ards 53   53
Craigavon 72 4 76
Total 561 20 581

Table 7 - Crown Court defendants disposed by charge type
All Offences Against the Person 91
All Sexual Offences 43
All Burglary Offences 23
All Robbery Offences 15
All Theft Offences 27
All Fraud and Forgery Offences 37
All Criminal Damage Offences 6
All Offences Against the State 13
All Other Offences 35
All Drug Offences 43
All Motoring Offences 16
Combination of charges 232
Total 581

Table 8 - Outcome of Crown Court Defendants
  Plea of guilty on all charges Plea of not guilty on at least one charge - found guilty on at least one charge Plea not guilty - acquitted on all charges All charges withdrawn Total
Belfast 83 91 44   218
Londonderry 20 31 9   60
Antrim 15 23 8   46
Fermanagh and Tyrone 25 32 14 2 73
Armagh and South Down 19 29 7   55
Ards 27 19 7   53
Craigavon 43 24 9   76
Total 232 249 98 2 581

Table 9 - Crown Court sitting times
  Number of sittings Total time
Belfast 250 842:42:00
Londonderry 68 222:18:00
Antrim 67 204:52:00
Fermanagh and Tyrone 90 206:46:00
Armagh and South Down 60 164:36:00
Ards 73 287:45:00
Craigavon 81 259:12:00
Total 689 2188:11:00

Data source and validations:

Data from the Integrated Courts Operations System (ICOS) are used for this publication.  This system has been chosen as it is the main system within the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service (NICTS).  The data are input to this system on a daily basis.  A download from this system is supplied to the Statistics and Research team on a weekly basis on flat files.

This information is downloaded via SPSS and validations are produced from this system to ensure that the data are reliable and robust for use.  Any inconsistencies are reported back to individual court offices and if required, any necessary amendments are made to the data.  Once, these amendments have been checked, computer syntax is then used to produce the tables in the bulletin.  The aggregated total figures in the bulletin are produced from the computer syntax.  The data are broken down by court location as this is the established way of producing and presenting these data.

To ensure that timely data are used, the latest available extract is used to compile this bulletin.

For further information on this publication please contact:

C Darragh
Statistics and Research
Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service
Laganside House
23-27 Oxford Street
Belfast
BT1 3LA

Tel: 028 9072 8927