The bulletin Time Intervals for Criminal Proceedings in Magistrates' Courts is published quarterly.
It reports on the stages of proceedings between offence and completion for defendants in completed cases in the Magistrates Courts. Information about adult defendants is collected from a survey, which is taken in one week each quarter. Information is collected on adult summary cases in the first and third quarters (i.e. March and September surveys). Information about youth defendants is collected in four weeks of each quarter for both indictable and summary cases.
The figures are presented on a national basis, except for the December bulletin, which includes a breakdown of annual figures by Magistrates' Courts Committee areas.
If you have any queries regarding the content of the Statistical Bulletins, please contact: Wincen Lowe
The magistrates' courts defendant waiting times on the day survey is carried out in England and Wales and measures the time adult defendants in criminal cases wait on the days of their hearings. Since 2000 the survey has been carried out bi-annually, in April and October. Previously it was conducted annually, normally in October.
The magistrates' courts user reaction survey is carried out in England and Wales and collects data on the satisfaction of court users with non-judicial aspects of the service received. Before 2000 the survey was conducted annually, normally in October. Between 2000 and 2003 it was carried out bi-annually in April and October. From 2003 until 2005 the survey was conducted annually in April.
From April 2005 the magistrates courts survey has been discontinued and so the magistrates courts defendants waiting times on the day survey will be published in a separate bulletin. These two distinct surveys were previously published in the same bulletin, known as the Quality of Service bulletin.
The bulletins are in four sections. The first two sections present results from the surveys. The last two sections contain tables of detailed results from the most recent and earlier surveys, and methodological notes and further information.
The bulletin average time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders is published monthly.
The figures are used to monitor the Government's manifesto pledge to half the average time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders in England and Wales from 142 days in 1996, to 71 days by May 2002.
The category of persistent young offender was defined in 1997 as:
"a young person aged 10-17, who has been sentenced by any criminal court in the UK on three or more occasions, for one or more recordable offence, and within three years of the last sentencing occasions is subsequently arrested or has information laid against them for a further recordable offence".
The bulletin gives overall national figures for arrest to sentence, for England and Wales, as well as figures for the Magistrates Court and Crown Court separately. On a quarterly basis, the figures are further broken down by Criminal Justice Areas.
More information can be found on the Youth Justice System's Reducing Delays website.