Crown Court Bulletin July to September 2011 (Provisional Figures)
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.
- Cases received and dealt with:
There were 411 Crown cases received during July to September 2011. This was a 1% increase on the 405 received during July to September 2010. The number of cases dealt with have increased by 11% from 143 in July to September 2010, to 159 for the same period in 2011.
- Defendants received and dealt with:
527 defendants were received in Crown Court during July to September 2011 (a 2% increase since the same period last year, when 516 defendants were received). 233 defendants were dealt with during July to September 2010 (an increase of 28% against the same period last year, when 182 defendants were dealt with).
- Waiting times:
The average time from committal to hearing for July to September 2011 was 153 days, compared with 123 days for the same period in 2010. The average time from conviction to disposal was 77 days, compared with 75 days for the equivalent period in 2010.
- Disposals:
County Court Judges disposed of 99% of defendants (231), compared with 98% of defendants in July to September 2010. 18% of defendants were charged solely with offences against the person while 39% of defendants had a combination of charges. During the same period last year 14% of defendants were charged solely with offences against the person, and 38% of defendants had a combination of charges.
- Pleas and findings:
Of the 233 defendants disposed in July to September 2011, 94 (40%) pleaded guilty to all charges, compared with 64 (35%) during July to September 2010.
- Crown Court sittings:
In total there were 372 Crown court sittings for July to September 2011 compared with 325 for July to September 2010 (an increase of 14%), with a total time of 1111 hours sat compared with 938 hours sat during the same period last year.
(Please note that Summer recess took place in July and August).
Figure 1: Crown Court Cases Dealt With (July - September)
| 2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
| 178 |
147 |
152 |
143 |
159 |
Table 1 - Crown Court cases received
| |
Total |
| Belfast |
154 |
| Londonderry |
34 |
| Antrim |
30 |
| Fermanagh and Tyrone |
43 |
| Armagh and South Down |
41 |
| Ards |
59 |
| Craigavon |
50 |
| Total |
411 |
Table 2 - Crown Court cases disposed
| |
Total |
| Belfast |
62 |
| Londonderry |
9 |
| Antrim |
10 |
| Fermanagh and Tyrone |
27 |
| Armagh and South Down |
11 |
| Ards |
23 |
| Craigavon |
17 |
| Total |
159 |
Table 3 - Crown Court defendants received
| |
Total |
| Belfast |
193 |
| Londonderry |
47 |
| Antrim |
44 |
| Fermanagh and Tyrone |
58 |
| Armagh and South Down |
55 |
| Ards |
72 |
| Craigavon |
58 |
| Total |
527 |
Table 4 - Crown Court defendants disposed
| |
Total |
| Belfast |
107 |
| Londonderry |
11 |
| Antrim |
12 |
| Fermanagh and Tyrone |
33 |
| Armagh and South Down |
18 |
| Ards |
29 |
| Craigavon |
23 |
| Total |
233 |
Table 5 - Waiting times in days
| |
Committal to hearing - days |
Conviction to disposal - days |
Total defendants disposed |
| Belfast |
183 |
101 |
99 |
| Londonderry |
194 |
68 |
11 |
| Antrim |
185 |
90 |
12 |
| Fermanagh and Tyrone |
88 |
31 |
32 |
| Armagh and South Down |
112 |
26 |
16 |
| Ards |
151 |
67 |
27 |
| Craigavon |
111 |
87 |
23 |
| Total |
153 |
77 |
220 |
[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 |
106 |
1 |
107 |
| Londonderry |
11 |
|
11 |
| Antrim |
12 |
|
12 |
| Fermanagh and Tyrone |
33 |
|
33 |
| Armagh and South Down |
18 |
|
18 |
| Ards |
28 |
1 |
29 |
| Craigavon |
23 |
|
23 |
| Total |
231 |
2 |
233 |
Table 7 - Crown Court defendants disposed by charge type
| All Offences Against the Person |
42 |
| All Sexual Offences |
13 |
| All Burglary Offences |
13 |
| All Robbery Offences |
2 |
| All Theft Offences |
14 |
| All Fraud and Forgery Offences |
8 |
| All Criminal Damage Offences |
1 |
| All Offences Against the State |
14 |
| All Other Offences |
11 |
| All Drug Offences |
18 |
| All Motoring Offences |
6 |
| All Non-Police Offences |
1 |
| Combination of charges |
90 |
| Total |
233 |
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 |
Total |
| Belfast |
46 |
43 |
18 |
107 |
| Londonderry |
4 |
4 |
3 |
11 |
| Antrim |
6 |
4 |
2 |
12 |
| Fermanagh and Tyrone |
13 |
16 |
4 |
33 |
| Armagh and South Down |
5 |
8 |
5 |
18 |
| Ards |
12 |
14 |
3 |
29 |
| Craigavon |
8 |
6 |
9 |
23 |
| Total |
94 |
95 |
44 |
233 |
Table 9 - Crown Court sitting times
| |
Number of sittings |
Total time |
| Belfast |
167 |
543:26:24 |
| Londonderry |
20 |
48:29:00 |
| Antrim |
35 |
94:37:00 |
| Fermanagh and Tyrone |
29 |
68:59:00 |
| Armagh and South Down |
46 |
90:10:00 |
| Ards |
41 |
145:12:00 |
| Craigavon |
34 |
120:34:00 |
| Total |
372 |
1111:27:24 |
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