Criminal justice system statistics quarterly: June 2020
Trends in the use of out of court disposals, defendants prosecuted, offenders convicted, remand and sentencing decisions, and offender histories in England and Wales.
Applies to England and Wales
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The report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending June 2020 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer term trends.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused MoJ to have to change its data gathering, access and release practices, focusing efforts on priority analysis and statistics. Our statement explains this further and in particular, we have limited access to the Police National Computer, to minimise non-essential travel by our analysts. In line with guidance from the Office for Statistics Regulation, the decision has been made to delay the following publications:
- FTE data to March 2020 will be published on 18 February 2021
- FTE data to June 2020 will be published on 18 February 2021
Offending histories commentary and data for year ending December 2019 has now been made available on the Criminal Justice Statistics quarterly: December 2019 page. This part of the release was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused MoJ to have to change its data gathering, access and release practices, focusing efforts on priority analysis and statistics (see above).
Statistician’s comment
Today’s publication, covering to June 2020, is the first to contain a full quarter affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact is clear to see in the data. Court activity was affected by the pandemic as adjustments were made to adhere to new rules on movement and social interaction and this has led to an exaggerated reduction in overall prosecutions, and the prioritising of certain types of court cases. Other impacts include:
- A steeper than expected increase in the custody rate, which has been increasing for indictable offences over the decade, but is likely to have been further influenced by the prioritisation of offences most likely to result in custody.
- An increase in the number of defendants remanded in custody at the Crown Court (and a corresponding decrease in those remanded on bail).
The impact of the pandemic is likely to continue to affect these statistics and drive short-term trends in future periods as we see the recovery in subsequent quarters. It will be useful for readers to consider these alongside statistics on criminal court receipts, disposals and outstanding cases produced in the Criminal court statistics quarterly.
Pre-release access
The bulletin is produced and handled by the ministry’s analytical professionals and production staff. Pre-release access of up to 24 hours is granted to the following persons:
Ministry of Justice
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice; Minister of State for Prisons and Probation; 2 Parliamentary Under Secretary of States; Lords spokesperson; Principal Private Secretary; Deputy Principal Private Secretary; 5 Private Secretaries; Assistant Private Secretary; Permanent Secretary; Special Advisor; Head of News; Chief Press Officer; 4 Press Officers; Director, Family and Criminal Justice Policy; Director of Data and Analytical Services; Director General for Policy and Strategy Group; Chief Financial Officer & Director General for the Chief Financial Officer Group; Deputy Director, Bail, Sentencing and Release Policy; Section Head, Criminal Court Policy; Director, Offender and Youth Justice Policy; Statistician, Youth Justice Board; Data Analyst, Youth Justice Board; Deputy Director, Crime; Crime Service Manager (Case Progression) - Courts and Tribunals Development; Deputy Director, Legal Operations - Courts & Tribunals Development Directorate; Head of Criminal Law policy; Policy Manager – Youth Courts and Sentencing; 5 Policy Advisors; Head of Custodial Sentencing; Policy Lead, Vulnerable Offender Policy; Head of Criminal Courts Statistics.
Home Office
Home Secretary; Private Secretary to the Home Secretary; Permanent Secretary, Home Office; Assistant Private Secretary to the Home Office Permanent Secretary; Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Service; Assistant Private Secretary Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Service; Director of Crime, Home Office; Head of Crime and Policing Statistics, Home Office; Head of Recorded Crime Statistics.
The Judiciary
Lord Chief Justice; Private Secretary to the Lord Chief Justice; Private Secretary to the President of the Queen’s Bench; Lead for Criminal Justice for the Senior Judiciary.
Other
Principal Analyst (Justice), Cabinet Office
Last updated 11 January 2021 + show all updates
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An issue with the reporting period covered in Table Q3.5 was identified and corrected.
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First published.