Total Criminal Court Statistics

Note:

The Criminal Procedure Act 2011 came into force on 1 July 2013. It changed the landscape for criminal cases.

Prior to July 2013, charges were laid summarily or indictably, which effectively determined the path they followed in Court. Historical reporting was created based on the pathways that cases were expected to follow - criminal summary, indictable pre-committal, and indictable post-committal (jury trial). Cases were counted as "new business" and "disposals" within each of these court processes.  Transfers into a process were counted as new business, and transfers out as disposals. Reporting was based on parts of the criminal process, and never on the whole.

New reporting reflects a holistic approach, focussed on total criminal cases, and on the subsets with special requirements: District Court jury trials, Youth Court cases and cases to be tried and/or sentenced in the High Court.

A case is now counted as new business when it first comes into the system, that is when charges are filed. It is counted as a disposal only when it has final charge outcomes for all its charges. Reporting of annual statistics from July 2013 uses new terminology in order to count transfers between courts and parts of the process: "cases in" alongside "new business" and "cases out" alongside "disposals".   

New business/"Cases in"

"Cases in" is the sum of cases filed, cases where a retrial has been directed, severed cases and cases transferred into the court. At court location level, they also include transfers from other parts of the country. It excludes cases reactivated in the court due to the execution or withdrawal of a warrant to arrest the defendant.

Disposals/"Cases out"

"Cases out" is the sum of cases where sentencing or other final outcomes are established on all charges, cases where all the charges are joined into another case, and cases transferred out of the court. At court location level, they also include transfers to other parts of the country. This includes cases where the defendant was convicted and sentenced or discharged, or the case dismissed, withdrawn, or stayed. It excludes cases put on hold due to the issuing of a warrant to arrest the defendant. 

Total active

Active cases are those which are awaiting trial or are awaiting sentencing or other final outcome, and are not On Hold due to the issuing of a warrant to arrest the defendant. This includes cases where the defendant is yet to appear in court, or yet to make a plea, the case is in the review process, or the case is awaiting a pre-trial decision.