Magistrates' Courts
(asked on 10th July 2014) - View Source
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many and what proportion of cases at the magistrates' court in (a) 2013-14 and (b) each of the previous five financial years were subject to a (i) decision by the prosecution to discontinue the case, (ii) decision in committal proceedings to discharge the defendant, (iii) decision by the magistrate to dismiss the case on grounds of no case to answer and (iv) dismissal after trial.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a central record of the outcomes of prosecutions, on a defendant basis, at magistrates' courts. Prosecution outcomes comprise convictions; guilty pleas, convictions after trial and cases proved in the absence of the defendant. Unsuccessful outcomes represent all other outcomes and include prosecutions dropped (discontinuances, withdrawals, prosecutions stayed and no evidence offered), discharged committals, dismissals and administrative finalisations.
The table below shows the volume and proportion of defendants whose proceedings were discontinued by way of a written notice under Section 23 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985, discharged at committal, dismissed no case to answer by magistrates and dismissed after a full trial, in each of the last six years.
| 2008-2009 | 2009-2010 | 2010-2011 | 2011-2012 | 2012-2013 | 2013-2014 |
(i) Discontinued | 30,226 | 30,665 | 32,532 | 30,217 | 26,600 | 23,083 |
% Discontinued | 3.3% | 3.5% | 3.9% | 3.8% | 3.8% | 3.6% |
(ii) Discharged Committal | 1,984 | 2,252 | 1,690 | 1,308 | 1,270 | 308 |
% Discharged Committal | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.0% |
(iii) Dismissed No Case To Answer | 1,707 | 1,605 | 1,525 | 1,362 | 1,224 | 1,433 |
% Dismissed No Case to Answer | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.2% |
(iv) Dismissed After Full Trial | 18,682 | 20,322 | 19,517 | 17,681 | 17,168 | 17,805 |
% Dismissed After Full Trial | 2.0% | 2.3% | 2.3% | 2.2% | 2.5% | 2.8% |
TOTAL PROSECUTED | 928,708 | 872,585 | 840,983 | 787,547 | 700,423 | 633,306 |
Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System