Criminal court statistics quarterly: July to September 2020
Type and volume of cases received and processed through the criminal court system of England and Wales, including statistics on case聽timeliness.
Applies to England and Wales
Documents
Details
This is the quarterly Q3 2020 criminal courts statistics publication.
The statistics here focus on key trends in case volume and progression through the criminal court system in England and Wales. This also includes:
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Management information concerning the enforcement of financial penalties in England and Wales;
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Experimental statistics on 鈥榯he use of language interpreter and translation services in courts and tribunals;
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Experimental statistics on Failure to Appear Warrants at magistrates鈥� courts in England and Wales.
Additional data tools and CSVs have also been provided.
Statisticians comment
鈥淭his report covers the period to the end of September 2020 and shows the continued impact of COVID-19 on criminal courts.
Following the limited operation of the criminal courts and the gradual reintroduction of jury trials during the report period, the figures published today show signs of recovery in the system. This can be more clearly seen at the magistrates鈥� courts, where disposals have risen sharply in the latest quarter though are still below pre-COVID levels. A higher volume of disposals than receipts in the latest period has meant that the outstanding caseload has fallen.
Some of the magistrates鈥� court disposals will feed directly through to the Crown Court, where receipts have doubled in the latest quarter. Disposals have also increased but not at the same rate as receipts, as a result the outstanding caseload has risen.
The trends at both magistrates鈥� courts and the Crown Court continue beyond the National Statistics series into more recent management information published by Her Majesty鈥檚 Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) 鈥� which are highlighted in this document.鈥�
Criminal court statistics quarterly, October to December 2020
The next criminal court statistics publication is scheduled for release in March 2021.
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:
Ministry of Justice
Permanent Secretary; Director General, Policy, Communications and Analysis; Director, Criminal Justice Policy; Deputy Director, Criminal Courts Policy; Criminal Court Reform Lead; Jurisdictional and Operational Support Manager; Head of Data and Analytical Services; Chief Statistician; 5 Press Officers.
Her Majesty鈥檚 Court and Tribunals Service
Chief Executive, HMCTS; Deputy Chief Executive, HMCTS; Deputy Director of Legal Services, Court Users and Summary Justice Reform; Head of Operational Performance; Head of Criminal Enforcement team, HMCTS; Head of data and management information, HMCTS; Head of Management Information Systems; Head of Communications; Head of News; Jurisdictional Operation manager and Head of Contracted Services and Performance for HMCTS Operations Directorate
Bar Council
Chair of the Bar Council, Director of Communications, Research Manager
Home Office
1 Senior Policy Official and 1 Statistician