Northern Ireland Court Service County Court Bulletin for October - December 2009 (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 344 Crown cases received during October to December 2009.  This is a 15% increase on the 298 received during October to December 2008. The number of cases dealt with has decreased by 4% from 398 in October to December 2008, to 384 in 2009 (Figure 1).

Defendants received and dealt with:

436 defendants were received in the Crown Court during October to December 2009 (a 21% increase on the same period last year, when 361 were received). 473 defendants were dealt with during October to December 2009 (a decrease of 9% compared with the same period last year, when 520 defendants were dealt with).

Waiting times:

The average time from committal to hearing for October to December 2009 was 111 days, compared with 142 days for the same period in 2008. The average time from conviction to disposal was 38 days, compared with 46 days for the same period in 2008.

Disposals:

County Court Judges disposed of 97% of defendants (461).  11% of defendants were charged solely with drug offences while 39% of defendants had a combination of charges.

Pleas and findings:

Of the 473 defendants disposed, 216 (46%) pleaded guilty to all charges.

Crown Court sittings:

In total there were 687 Crown Court sittings for October to December 2009 in comparison with 753 for October to December 2008 (a decrease of 9%), with a total time of 2074 hours sat during October to December 2009, compared with 1946 hours sat during the same period in 2008.

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