Criminal court statistics (quarterly): October to December 2015
The latest statistics on type and volume of cases received and processed through the criminal court system of England and Wales in the fourth quarter of 2015 (October to December).
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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.
- Outstanding cases in magistrates’ courts have increased by 3% since Q3 2015, and are back to similar levels as Q4 2014. This increase in outstanding cases reflects the increase in receipts and decrease in disposals at Q4 2015.
- Outstanding cases in the Crown Court have been falling over the last year with a 9% decrease in the number of outstanding cases between Q4 2014 and Q4 2015. This decline reflects the number of disposals being greater than the number of receipts for the last 4 quarters.
- For Crown Court cases, the mean time from first listing at the magistrates’ court to receipt by the Crown Court fell substantially, from 22 days in Q2 2013 to 6 days in Q4 2015. This figure has been fairly stable since late 2014.
- Time from receipt by the Crown Court to main hearing and, also, main hearing to completion have increased across the last 2 years. This has resulted in the number of days from first listing to completion increasing from 164 to 204 days between Q2 2013 and Q2 2015, although more recently there was a decrease to 195 days at Q4 2015.
- Across a 2 year period, the waiting times for triable-either-way cases and indictable only cases have increased overall by 6 weeks and 4.2 weeks respectively. Waiting times have remained fairly steady in non-trial cases.
Pre-release
In addition to 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:
CEO of HMCTS, Director of Crime, Director Finance, Deputy Director Victims & Proceedings Policy, Head of Criminal Procedure, Deputy Director of Legal Services, Court Users and Summary Justice Reform, Cross Jurisdictional Director of the Court Service, Data Collection, Performance and Reporting Manager, Performance Information Manager.