Crown Court Bulletin for January - March 2010 (Provisional Figures)

Contents

• Summary
• Figure 1 - Crown Court cases dealt with
• 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 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.

Summary

Cases received and dealt with:

There were 322 Crown cases received during January to March 2010.  This was a 5% increase on the 306 received during January to March 2009. The cases dealt with have increased by 6% from 372 in January to March 2009, to 393 for the same period in 2010 (Figure 1).

Defendants received and dealt with:

409 defendants were received in the Crown Court during January to March 2010 (an 8% increase on the same period last year, when 377 were received). 513 defendants were dealt with during January to March 2010 (an increase of 9% compared with the same period last year, when 469 defendants were dealt with).

Waiting times:

The average time from committal to hearing for January to March 2010 was 117 days, compared with 128 days for the same period in 2009. The average time from conviction to disposal was 45 days, compared with 54 days for the same period in 2009.

Disposals:

County Court Judges disposed of 96% of defendants (494). 16% of defendants were charged solely with offences against the person while 42% of defendants had a combination of charges.

Pleas and findings:

Of the 513 defendants disposed, 219 (39%) pleaded guilty to all charges.

Crown Court sittings:

In total there were 773 Crown Court sittings January to March 2010 compared with 762 for January to March 2010 (an increase of 1%), with a total time of 2142 hours sat compared with 2111 hours sat during the same period last year.

Figure 1: Crown Court Cases Dealt With (October - December)

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

[1] 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