Crown Court Bulletin for July - September 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 405 Crown cases received during July to September 2010. This was a 23% increase on the 328 received during July to September 2009. The cases dealt with have decreased by 6% from 152 in July to September 2009, to 143 for the same period in 2010 (Figure 1).

Defendants received and dealt with:

516 defendants were received in Crown Court during July to September 2010 (a 21% increase since the same period last year, when 428 defendants were received). 182 defendants were dealt with during July to September 2010.

Waiting times:

The average time from committal to hearing for July to September 2010 was 123 days, compared with 112 days for the same period in 2009. The average time from conviction to disposal was 75 days, compared with 65 days for the equivalent period in 2009.

Disposals:

County Court Judges disposed of 98% of defendants (178). 14% of defendants were charged solely with offences against the person while 38% of defendants had a combination of charges.

Pleas and findings:

Of the 182 defendants disposed, 64 (35%) pleaded guilty to all charges.

Crown Court sittings:

In total there were 325 Crown court sittings for July to September 2010 compared with 351 for July to September 2009 (a decrease of 7%), with a total time of 938 hours sat compared with 10404 hours sat during the same period last year.

(Please note that Summer recess took place during July & April 2010).

Figure 1: Crown Court Cases Dealt With (July to September)

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