Crown Court Bulletin

January – March 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 January  to March 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 343 Crown cases received during January to March 2008.  This is a 2% increase on the 336 received during to January to March 2007. The cases dealt with have decreased by 10% from 404 in January to March 2007, to 365 in 2008.
• Defendants received and dealt with:
  429 defendants were received in Crown Court during January to March 2008 (a 0.5% increase since the same period last year). 476 defendants were dealt with during January to March 2008 (a decrease of 6% against the same period last year)
• Waiting times:
  The average time in days from committal to hearing for Jan-Mar 2008 was 140 days, an increase of 22% against the same period in 2007. The average time from conviction to disposal was 54 days.
• Disposals:
  County Court Judges disposed of 95% of the defendants (450), and 18% of defendants were charged solely with offences against the person.
• Pleas and findings:
  Of the 476 defendants disposed, 44% pleaded guilty to all charges and were therefore found guilty on all charges.
• Crown Court sittings:
  In total there were 676 Crown court sittings for Jan – Mar 2008 in comparison to 830 for Jan-Mar 2007 ( a decrease of 19%), with a total time of 1826 hours sat compared to 2270 hours sat during the same period last year. The average time per sitting in Jan-Mar 2008 was 2hr 42min compared to 2hr 44min for Jan-Mar 2007. (Please note that Easter recess took place in March 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                  Average 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