Criminal court statistics (quarterly): January to March 2016
The latest statistics on type and volume of cases received and processed through the criminal court system of England and Wales in the first quarter of 2016 (January to March).
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The Crown Court information release is published as management information on the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary website. These statistics focus on key trends in case volume and progression through the criminal court system in England and Wales. There is also information concerning the enforcement of financial penalties in England and Wales.
- The decrease in receipts and increase in disposals in magistrates’ courts in the latest quarter resulted in the outstanding magistrates’ court caseload dropping to 304,300 at the end of Q1 2016, the lowest figure since Q1 2014.
- Outstanding cases in the Crown Court have been gradually decreasing since Q4 2014. Between Q4 2014 and Q1 2016 they declined by 16% to 46,500 cases. This decline reflects the number of disposals being greater than the number of receipts for the last 5 quarters.
- The average time from receipt by the Crown Court to main hearing and main hearing to completion increased between Q3 2013 and Q2 2015, driving the overall increase in the number of days from first listing to completion across this period. More recently, there has been a decrease in the average number of days from receipt by the Crown Court to completion – from 199 days in Q2 2015 to 177 days in Q1 2016.
- From Q1 2011, average hearing times for not guilty plea trials slowly increased to 14.9 hours in Q4 2013. Since then, hearing times have fluctuated between 12.5 and 15 hours with a peak of 15.4 hours in Q1 2016.
- Have remained fairly steady in non-trial cases.
Pre-release
In addition to Ministry of Justice (MOJ) professional and production staff, pre-release access to the quarterly statistics of up to 24 hours is granted to the following postholders:
MOJ:
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Minister of State (Policing, Crime, Criminal Justice and Victims), Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (HMCTS, Tribunals, Judicial Policy, Coroners), Lord Chief Justice, Permanent Secretary, Director General of Finance and Corporate Services, Director General Criminal Justice, Director of Sentencing & Rehabilitation, Head of Criminal Procedure, Policy Advisor to the Secretary of State, Head of Analytical Services, Chief Statistician, Attorney General’s Office, relevant Press Officers, relevant Special Advisers and Private Secretaries.
Her Majesty’s Court and Tribunals Service:
Chief Executive, Director of Courts and Tribunals Development, Deputy Director, Legal Operations, Head of NCES Operational Support Team, Director of Operations; Head of Operational Performance, Data Quality, Collection, Analysis & Reporting Manager, Jurisdictional Performance Lead – Magistrates’ Courts, Director of Finance, Governance & Performance, Head of Performance & Analysis, Head of Jurisdictional Support – Crime.
Last updated 10 August 2016 + show all updates
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The ‘total for trial’ column in Table C1a updated.
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First published.