Crown Court Bulletin

April – June 2008 (PROVISIONAL FIGURES)

• Table 1 Crown Court cases received
• Table 2 Crown Court cases disposed
• Table 3 Crown Court defendants received
• Table 4 Crown Court defendants disposed
• Table 5 Average waiting times in days
• Table 6 Crown Court defendants disposed by judge type
• Table 7 Crown Court defendants disposed by charge type
• Table 8 Outcome of Crown Court defendants
• Table 9 Crown Court sitting times

Important Notes:

• Figures are run from a live database and may change due to late returns and further validations.
  
• The number of defendants is based on the number of defendants disposed of from April to June 2008. 
  
• 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.

Summary

• Cases received and dealt with:
  There were 367 Crown cases received during April to June 2008.  This is a 5% increase on the 350 received during April to June 2007. The cases dealt with have increased by 22% from 366 in April to June 2007, to 448 in 2008.
• Defendants received and dealt with:
  467 defendants were received in Crown Court during April to June 2008 (a 3% decrease since the same period last year). 549 defendants were dealt with during April to June 2008 (an increase of 16% against the same period last year)
• Waiting times:
  The average time from committal to hearing for Apr-Jun 2008 was 127 days, an increase of 12% against the same period in 2007. The average time from conviction to disposal was 39 days, a decrease of 5% on the same period in 2007.
• Disposals:
  County Court Judges disposed of 91% of defendants (498), and 15% of defendants were charged solely with offences against the person. 38% of defendants had a combination of charges.
• Pleas and findings:
  Of the 549 defendants disposed, 47% pleaded guilty to all charges and were therefore found guilty on all charges.
• Crown Court sittings:
  In total there were 886 Crown court sittings for Apr – Jun 2008 in comparison to 729 for Apr-Jun 2007 ( a increase of 22%), with a total time of 2089 hours sat compared to 1861 hours sat during the same period last year. The average time per sitting in Apr - Jun 2008 was 2hr 22m compared to 2hr 33m for Apr - Jun 2007.

Please note that Easter recess took place in Mar 2008, as opposed to April in 2007.

Table 1 - Crown Court cases received

Table 2 - Crown Court cases disposed

Table 3 - Crown Court defendants received

Table 4 - Crown Court defendants disposed

Table 5 - Waiting times in days

Excludes defendants who had a bench warrant or deferred sentence

Table 6 - Crown Court defendants disposed by judge type

Table 7 - Crown Court defendants disposed by charge type

Table 8 - Outcome of Crown Court Defendants

Table 9 - Crown Court sitting times