District Courts
District Courts
Criminal Procedure Act 2011
From 1 July 2013 the processes for filing and progressing criminal cases through the courts changed due to the implementation of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011. The terms “summary” and “indictable” were replaced by new terminology. However, pre-1 July cases will continue to be a feature of the District Courts’ workload until those cases reach completion. This will affect the look and layout of future reports.
Jurisdiction
The New Zealand District Courts have jurisdiction over all criminal matters, other than a small selection of serious offences which are reserved for the High Court. In its civil jurisdiction the District Courts can hear general claims in tort, equity and contract up to $200,000.
The Family Court and Youth Court are divisions of the District Court.
These are the annual statistics for the District Court, Youth Court, Family Court and Civil jurisdictions for the 12 months ending 30 June 2013. Refer to the glossary for definitions of terms in this commentary.
Criminal – Jury trial Jurisdiction
The jury trial jurisdiction deals with the more serious criminal cases, after defendants are committed for trial from criminal and youth pre-committal processes.
For the 12 months ending 30 June 2013 this jurisdiction has seen a:
- 7% decrease in the number of cases (new business) committed for jury trial to 2,988 cases
- 8% increase in disposals to 3,349 cases
- 13% decrease in active cases to 2,354 cases
A sustained effort by the judiciary over the past 14 months has resulted in an increase in District Court jury trial case disposals. This has been achieved through more efficient deployment of the judicial resource and through innovative case management techniques developed by the National Jury Trial Judge.
Criminal - Summary Jurisdiction
The summary jurisdiction deals with less serious criminal cases and is the busiest jurisdiction in the court system. These cases are heard by District Court Judges, Community Magistrates and Justices of the Peace.
The reduction in new business is primarily as a result of Police continuing to make greater use of pre charge warnings, which aims to divert lower end offences away from prosecution and court proceedings. Numbers of active summary cases are at their lowest point in 5 years, and a quarter of these cases are awaiting sentencing.
For the 12 months ending 30 June 2013 this jurisdiction has seen a:
- 12% decrease in new business to 138,314 cases
- 10% decrease in disposals to 144,005
- 15% decrease in active cases to 25,954
Youth Court Jurisdiction
The Youth Court deals with offending by young people (aged 14-16) and may deal with some children (those aged 12-13 who are charged with particularly serious offences or repeat offending). Only approximately 20% of offences by children and young people come to court. The rest are managed by Police Youth Aid (who can offer community-based diversion) and Child, Youth and Family. Of those cases that do come to court, the majority are dealt with via a Family Group Conference and are disposed of without formal orders being made.
The Youth Court can hear and determine all charges, with the following exceptions:
- Murder and manslaughter charges
- (In some cases) non-imprisonable traffic offences
- Where the child or young person elects jury trial
- (In the case of a young person) when the Youth Court is satisfied that it is not in the interests of justice for the young person to remain in the Youth Court when a co-defendant is to have a jury trial.
For the 12 months ending 30 June 2013 this jurisdiction has seen a:
- 17% decrease in new youth summary cases to 3,798
- 17% decrease in disposals to 3,703
- 15% decrease in active cases to 986
Civil Jurisdiction
The majority of cases in the civil system are resolved without proceeding to trial and are not included in figures.
For the 12 months ending 30 June 2013 this jurisdiction has seen:
- no change in the number of defended new business compared to the previous 12 months (622)
- a 12% decrease in the disposals of defended cases to 630
- no change in the number of active cases compared to 30 June 2012 (563)
Family Court Jurisdiction
The Family Court makes orders for children not yet born right through to older people who are in need of care and protection. Not only is the age band wide but the variety of cases that come before the Court is considerable.
The number of individual applications is recorded by the Family Court as opposed to the number of cases. This is due to the fact that each case may involve several applications.
Applications are grouped under the following categories:
- adoption
- alcohol and drugs
- child support
- children, young persons and their families (CYPF)
- dissolution/marriage
- domestic violence
- estates
- family proceedings
- guardianship (Care of Children Act)
- Hague Convention
- mental health
- protection of personal and property rights (PPPR)
- relationship property
- miscellaneous
For the 12 months ending 30 June 2013 this jurisdiction has seen a:
- 5% decrease in new applications to 61,711
- 3% decrease in disposals of applications to 63,091
- 9% decrease in the number of active applications to 24,448
One third of all applications are made under the Care of Children Act. These applications relate to care arrangements for children.