This report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending June 2024 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer-term trends.

Statistician’s comment

Demand on the criminal justice system continues to grow, including throughput into the criminal courts. The volume of prosecutions for indictable offences was at its highest level since the year to June 2018. Whilst convictions for indictable offences are at a 4-year high.

This rise in prosecutions and convictions for more serious offences has also increased the demand on the prison system – whilst the proportion of defendants remanded into custody only increased by one percentage point, this covers the highest volume of defendants dealt with in the last 5 years. Additionally, the number of offenders receiving custodial sentences on has continued to increase.

For defendants sentenced to custody, the average custodial sentence length reduced slightly but maintains series highs seen over the last few years - for the most serious indictable only offences, this is now around 70% higher than it was in 2011.

This report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending September 2022 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer-term trends.

Statistician’s comment:

The figures published today, for 2022, demonstrate the continued recovery of the Criminal Justice System (CJS) since the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and covers the period of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) action from April to October 2022, which may have impacted convictions at the Crown Court during the period. Prosecutions and convictions have increased in the latest year, however, they both remained below levels in 2019. The increase in the latest year was driven by summary offences, while prosecutions for indictable offences decreased. Prosecutions for theft increased for the first time since 2012 and sexual offences increased for the fourth consecutive year since 2018. Convictions for violence against the person decreased for the first time since 2020. The custody rate for indictable offences has risen to levels seen in 2020 at 34% in the latest year, after a fall in 2021. In the latest year, the average custodial sentence length (ACSL) for indictable offences has fallen slightly, although it has risen for most of the last 10 years.

This report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending June 2024 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer-term trends.

Statistician’s comment

Alongside increasing police charge rates, the volume of prosecutions and convictions at criminal courts continued to increase. For the more serious indictable offences prosecutions and convictions reached their highest level since the year to September 2017.

This rise in convictions for more serious offences has increased the number of offenders being sentenced to immediate custody, while the volumes of those remanded in custody continued to rise.

For defendants sentenced to custody, the average custodial sentence length reduced slightly but remains high. The reduction in the latest period is largely due to the change in offence mix of offences sentenced to custody, with more theft offences, which attract lower custodial sentences generally.

Details

This report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending December 2023 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer-term trends.

Statistician’s comment

Prosecutions and convictions continued to increase in 2023, with prosecutions for indictable offences reaching a similar volume seen in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. Theft offences presented the largest increase, driven by theft from shops. Sexual offence prosecutions rose for the fifth consecutive year, primarily driven by adult rape and sexual assault.

The custody rate for indictable offences remained stable decreased slightly to 33.5% in the latest year and the average custodial sentence length rose for both indictable and all offences.

This report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending December 2021 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer-term trends.

Statistician’s Comment:

The figures published today highlight the continued recovery of the criminal justice system since the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on court processes and prioritisation. The number of defendants prosecuted has increased since 2020, though it remains around 19% lower than in 2019. Summary non-motoring prosecutions have recovered at a slower rate than indictable offences.

The custody rate has fallen slightly in the latest year - this is likely due to, at least in part, the continued recovery of the courts. In 2020, during the early stages of the pandemic, courts prioritised the most serious cases, whereas, more of the cases less likely to result in custody flowed through the courts in 2021.

However, for those serious cases resulting in custody, average custodial sentence length continues to increase to a high of 24.9 months for indictable offences. This has increased year-on-year (from 16.8 months in 2011), with the only decrease in 2020 likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending September 2024 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer-term trends.

Statistician’s comment

Alongside increasing police charge rates, the volume of prosecutions and convictions at criminal courts continued to increase. For the more serious indictable offences prosecutions and convictions reached their highest level since the year to September 2017.

This rise in convictions for more serious offences has increased the number of offenders being sentenced to immediate custody, while the volumes of those remanded in custody continued to rise.

For defendants sentenced to custody, the average custodial sentence length reduced slightly but remains high. The reduction in the latest period is largely due to the change in offence mix of offences sentenced to custody, with more theft offences, which attract lower custodial sentences generally.

This report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending December 2020 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer-term trends.

We continue to review our data gathering, access and release practices during the pandemic, focusing efforts on priority analysis and statistics. Our statement explains this further. Of particular note, we temporarily paused access to the Police National Computer earlier this year, to minimise non-essential travel by our analysts. Whilst access has now resumed, work is being resumed on a priority basis. As a result, and in line with guidance from the Office for Statistics Regulation, the decision has been made to delay the publishing of cautions data and the offending histories chapter of this publication. We will keep users updated of any further changes via our published release calendar.

Statistician’s comment:

The figures published today highlight the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on criminal court prosecutions and outcomes over the last year. Latest short-term trends are mostly reflective of the impact of the pandemic on court processes and prioritisation rather than a continuation of the longer-term series.

The monthly data shows that following the sharp falls in overall prosecutions and convictions immediately following the March 2020 ‘lockdown’, these have since recovered, although not quite to pre-pandemic levels. Indictable offences have recovered faster than summary offences, reflecting the prioritisation of cases that were likely to result in a custodial sentence, this has also led to an increase in the proportion of defendants remanded in custody.

The custody rate increased in the latest year due to a higher proportion of indictable offences dealt with in court since April 2020, while the overall average custodial sentence length remained stable compared to 2019.

This report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending March 2024 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer-term trends.

Statistician’s comment

Demand on the criminal justice system continues to grow, including throughput into the criminal courts. The volume of prosecutions and convictions has continued to increase.

Prosecutions for the most serious offences surpassed pre-COVID levels, with theft and violence against the person seeing the largest increases.

The increased volume of prosecutions and convictions for more serious offences has increased demand on the prison system – the number of defendants dealt with remanded into custody increased across all remand stages (pre-court, magistrates’ courts and Crown Court) and the number of offenders receiving custodial sentences is now at its highest since the start of the pandemic.

For defendants sentenced to custody, the average custodial sentence length remains broadly unchanged and maintained series highs seen over the last few years - this is now around 70% higher than it was in 2011.

Details

This report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending December 2023 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer-term trends.

Statistician’s comment

Prosecutions and convictions continued to increase in 2023, with prosecutions for indictable offences reaching a similar volume seen in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. Theft offences presented the largest increase, driven by theft from shops. Sexual offence prosecutions rose for the fifth consecutive year, primarily driven by adult rape and sexual assault.

The custody rate for indictable offences increased slightly to 33.5% in the latest year and the average custodial sentence length rose for both indictable and all offences.

This report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending September 2022 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer-term trends.

Between May 2023 and January 2024, work was undertaken to develop and deliver significant improvements to the criminal court sentencing data. For transparency, we have updated the annual interactive data tools published in CJSQ 2022 Q4 (May 2023 release) to ensure users have access to the revised figures for breakdowns by offence characteristics and offender demographics – these replace previous versions of the tools, which have been moved to a separate folder on the CJSQ 2022 Q4 landing page for archiving, but we urge users to use the new versions. While trends across the series remain reliable, users may find differences in figures between 2016 and 2017 - particularly at a detailed offence level or for specific sentencing outcomes. Users should consult the technical appendix for explanations of notable impacts due to the change in data processing methods between 2016 and 2017.

As a result, the Q4 2022 CJSQ publication has been updated to include revised annual tools, overview tables, technical guide and a new technical appendix. The commentary (including Statistician’s comment) and infographic are still based on the old data system and should not be used for exact figures.

Statistician’s comment:

The figures published today, for 2022, demonstrate the continued recovery of the Criminal Justice System (CJS) since the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and covers the period of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) action from April to October 2022, which may have impacted convictions at the Crown Court during the period. Prosecutions and convictions have increased in the latest year, however, they both remained below levels in 2019. The increase in the latest year was driven by summary offences, while prosecutions for indictable offences decreased. Prosecutions for theft increased for the first time since 2012 and sexual offences increased for the fourth consecutive year since 2018. Convictions for violence against the person decreased for the first time since 2020. The custody rate for indictable offences has risen to levels seen in 2020 at 34% in the latest year, after a fall in 2021. In the latest year, the average custodial sentence length (ACSL) for indictable offences has fallen slightly, although it has risen for most of the last 10 years.

The report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending September 2020 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer-term trends.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause MoJ to review our data gathering, access and release practices, focusing efforts on priority analysis and statistics. Our statement explains this further and in particular, we have limited access to the Police National Computer, to minimise non-essential travel by our analysts. In line with guidance from the Office for Statistics Regulation, the decision has been made to delay the following publications:

• Cautions data to September 2020 is planned for publication on 20 May 2020
• First Time Entrants (FTE) data to March 2020 is planned for publication on 20 May 2021
• FTE data to June 2020 is planned for publication on 20 May 2021
• FTE data to September 2020 is planned for publication on 20 May 2021

Statistician’s comment:

The figures published today highlight the impact on criminal court prosecutions and convictions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Latest short-term trends are mostly reflective of the impact of the pandemic on court processes and prioritisation rather than a continuation of the longer-term series.

The monthly data shows that following the sharp falls in prosecutions and convictions immediately following the March 2020 ‘lockdown’, these have recovered by September 2020, although not quite to pre-pandemic levels.

Custody rates and average sentence lengths have both increased overall. For custody rates, this is likely to partially reflect the prioritisation in courts of more serious offences since April 2020 – meaning a greater concentration of court time for offences more likely to get a prison sentence. The increase in average sentence lengths continues the trend of the last 10 years, and it is less clear from the monthly data what impact, if any, the pandemic may have had.

Pre-release access

The bulletin is produced and handled by the ministry’s analytical professionals and production staff. Pre-release access of up to 24 hours is granted to the following persons:

Ministry of Justice

Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice; Minister of State for Prisons and Probation; 2 Parliamentary Under Secretary of States; Permanent Secretary; Principal Private Secretary; Deputy Principal Private Secretary; Deputy Private Secretary; 5 Private Secretaries; Special Advisor; Head of News; Chief Press Officer; 4 Press Officers; Director, Family and Criminal Justice Policy; Chief Statistician; Director of Data and Analytical Services; Director General for Policy and Strategy Group; Chief Financial Officer & Director General for the Chief Financial Officer Group; Deputy Director, Bail, Sentencing and Release Policy; 2 Section Heads, Criminal Court Policy; Director, Offender and Youth Justice Policy; Statistician, Youth Justice Board; Data Analyst, Youth Justice Board; Deputy Director, Crime; Crime Service Manager (Case Progression) - Courts and Tribunals Development; Deputy Director, Legal Operations - Courts & Tribunals Development Directorate; Head of Criminal Law policy; Policy Manager – Youth Courts and Sentencing; 7 Policy Advisors; Head of Custodial Sentencing; Head of Criminal Courts Statistics.

Home Office

Home Secretary; Private Secretary to the Home Secretary; Permanent Secretary, Home Office; Assistant Private Secretary to the Home Office Permanent Secretary; Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Service; Assistant Private Secretary Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Service; Director of Crime, Home Office; Head of Crime and Policing Statistics, Home Office; Head of Recorded Crime Statistics.

The Judiciary

Lord Chief Justice; Private Secretary to the Lord Chief Justice; Private Secretary to the President of the Queen’s Bench; Lead for Criminal Justice for the Senior Judiciary.

Other

Principal Analyst (Justice), Cabinet Office

The report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending December 2019 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer term trends.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused MoJ to have to change its data gathering, access and release practices, focusing efforts on priority analysis and statistics. Our statement explains this further and in particular, we are pausing access to the Police National Computer, to minimise non-essential travel by our analysts. In line with guidance from the Office for Statistics Regulation, the decision has been made to delay the publishing of cautions data and the offending histories chapter of this publication. We will keep users updated of any further changes via our published release calendar.

The COVID-19 pandemic guidance on travel and social distancing has restricted access to some IT systems, so we are delaying the release of the detailed data tools for 2019 to finalise validation and quality assurance processes. We hope to be able to publish these tools on 28th May. Note that the impact of these quality assurance processes is likely to be very minor at an aggregate level and so should not affect the contents of the published bulletin or headline overview tables.

Statistician’s comment

The number of defendants prosecuted has fallen over the last decade – and figures published today show a further slight decrease in 2019, though there were increases in some of the most serious offence groups, in particular violence. The increase in prosecutions and convictions for violence was driven by the legislation that introduced the new offence of ‘assaults on emergency workers’ from November 2018. The publication also shows that custody rates, which have risen over the last decade, fell slightly in the last year, in part because of the change in the offence mix – with a rise in the proportion of all sentences that were for offences which are less likely to result in a custodial sentence.

Although we often consider crimes to correlate with prosecutions, we would not expect prosecutions to move directly in line with the ONS published police recorded crime series, or Crime Survey for England and Wales as only those crimes that result in a charge are likely to flow into courts – in addition criminal court prosecutions cover a much broader range of offences than police recorded crime or the survey.

The period of data covered by this report covers calendar year 2019, so court activity will not have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We will consider how we can best cover this in future publications. In the meantime, HMCTS publish regular management information on court activity here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmcts-management-information.

Pre-release access

The bulletin is produced and handled by the ministry’s analytical professionals and production staff. Pre-release access of up to 24 hours is granted to the following persons:

Ministry of Justice

Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice; Minister of State for Prisons and Probation; 2 Parliamentary Under Secretary of States; Lords spokesperson; Principal Private Secretary; Deputy Principal Private Secretary; 3 Private Secretaries; 4 Assistant Private Secretaries; Permanent Secretary; Head of Permanent Secretary’s Office; Special Advisor; Head of News; 2 Deputy Heads of News; 2 Press Officers; Director, Family and Criminal Justice Policy; Director of Data and Analytical Services; Chief Statistician; Director General, Policy, Communications and Analysis Group; Deputy Director, Bail, Sentencing and Release Policy; Section Head, Criminal Court Policy; Director, Offender and Youth Justice Policy; Director, Offender and Youth Justice Policy; Statistician, Youth Justice Board; Data Analyst, Youth Justice Board; Head of Courts and Sentencing, Youth Justice Policy; Deputy Director, Crime; Crime Service Manager (Case Progression) - Courts and Tribunals Development; Deputy Director, Legal Operations - Courts & Tribunals Development Directorate; Head of Criminal Law policy; 6 Policy Advisors.

Home Office

Home Secretary; Private Secretary to the Home Secretary; Deputy Principal Private Secretary to the Home Secretary; Permanent Secretary, Home Office; Assistant Private Secretary to the Home Office Permanent Secretary; Min

The report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending June 2020 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer term trends.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused MoJ to have to change its data gathering, access and release practices, focusing efforts on priority analysis and statistics. Our statement explains this further and in particular, we have limited access to the Police National Computer, to minimise non-essential travel by our analysts. In line with guidance from the Office for Statistics Regulation, the decision has been made to delay the following publications:

• FTE data to March 2020 will be published on 18 February 2021
• FTE data to June 2020 will be published on 18 February 2021

Offending histories commentary and data for year ending December 2019 has now been made available on the Criminal Justice Statistics quarterly: December 2019 page. This part of the release was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused MoJ to have to change its data gathering, access and release practices, focusing efforts on priority analysis and statistics (see above).

Statistician’s comment

Today’s publication, covering to June 2020, is the first to contain a full quarter affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact is clear to see in the data. Court activity was affected by the pandemic as adjustments were made to adhere to new rules on movement and social interaction and this has led to an exaggerated reduction in overall prosecutions, and the prioritising of certain types of court cases. Other impacts include:

• A steeper than expected increase in the custody rate, which has been increasing for indictable offences over the decade, but is likely to have been further influenced by the prioritisation of offences most likely to result in custody.
• An increase in the number of defendants remanded in custody at the Crown Court (and a corresponding decrease in those remanded on bail).

The impact of the pandemic is likely to continue to affect these statistics and drive short-term trends in future periods as we see the recovery in subsequent quarters. It will be useful for readers to consider these alongside statistics on criminal court receipts, disposals and outstanding cases produced in the Criminal court statistics quarterly.

Pre-release access

The bulletin is produced and handled by the ministry’s analytical professionals and production staff. Pre-release access of up to 24 hours is granted to the following persons:

Ministry of Justice

Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice; Minister of State for Prisons and Probation; 2 Parliamentary Under Secretary of States; Lords spokesperson; Principal Private Secretary; Deputy Principal Private Secretary; 5 Private Secretaries; Assistant Private Secretary; Permanent Secretary; Special Advisor; Head of News; Chief Press Officer; 4 Press Officers; Director, Family and Criminal Justice Policy; Director of Data and Analytical Services; Director General for Policy and Strategy Group; Chief Financial Officer & Director General for the Chief Financial Officer Group; Deputy Director, Bail, Sentencing and Release Policy; Section Head, Criminal Court Policy; Director, Offender and Youth Justice Policy; Statistician, Youth Justice Board; Data Analyst, Youth Justice Board; Deputy Director, Crime; Crime Service Manager (Case Progression) - Courts and Tribunals Development; Deputy Director, Legal Operations - Courts & Tribunals Development Directorate; Head of Criminal Law policy; Policy Manager – Youth Courts and Sentencing; 5 Policy Advisors; Head of Custodial Sentencing; Policy Lead, Vulnerable Offender Policy; Head of Criminal Courts Statistics.

Home Office

Home Secretary; Private Secretary to the Home Secretary; Permanent Secretary, Home Office; Assistant Private Secretary to the Home Office Permanent Secretary; Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Service; Assistant Private Secretary Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Service; Director of Crime, Home Office; Head of Crime and Policing Statistics, Home Office; Head of Recorded Crime Statistics.

The Judiciary

Lord Chief Justice; Private Secretary to the Lord Chief Justice; Private Secretary to the President of the Queen’s Bench; Lead for

The report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending December 2019 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer term trends.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused MoJ to have to change its data gathering, access and release practices, focusing efforts on priority analysis and statistics. Our statement explains this further and in particular, we are pausing access to the Police National Computer, to minimise non-essential travel by our analysts. In line with guidance from the Office for Statistics Regulation, the decision has been made to delay the publishing of cautions data and the offending histories chapter of this publication. We will keep users updated of any further changes via our published release calendar.

Statistician’s comment

The number of defendants prosecuted has fallen over the last decade – and figures published today show a further slight decrease in 2019, though there were increases in some of the most serious offence groups, in particular violence. The increase in prosecutions and convictions for violence was driven by the legislation that introduced the new offence of ‘assaults on emergency workers’ from November 2018. The publication also shows that custody rates, which have risen over the last decade, fell slightly in the last year, in part because of the change in the offence mix – with a rise in the proportion of all sentences that were for offences which are less likely to result in a custodial sentence.

Although we often consider crimes to correlate with prosecutions, we would not expect prosecutions to move directly in line with the ONS published police recorded crime series, or Crime Survey for England and Wales as only those crimes that result in a charge are likely to flow into courts – in addition criminal court prosecutions cover a much broader range of offences than police recorded crime or the survey.

The period of data covered by this report covers calendar year 2019, so court activity will not have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We will consider how we can best cover this in future publications. In the meantime, HMCTS publish regular management information on court activity here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmcts-management-information.

Pre-release access

The bulletin is produced and handled by the ministry’s analytical professionals and production staff. Pre-release access of up to 24 hours is granted to the following persons:

Ministry of Justice

Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice; Minister of State for Prisons and Probation; 2 Parliamentary Under Secretary of States; Lords spokesperson; Principal Private Secretary; Deputy Principal Private Secretary; 3 Private Secretaries; 4 Assistant Private Secretaries; Permanent Secretary; Head of Permanent Secretary’s Office; Special Advisor; Head of News; 2 Deputy Heads of News; 2 Press Officers; Director, Family and Criminal Justice Policy; Director of Data and Analytical Services; Chief Statistician; Director General, Policy, Communications and Analysis Group; Deputy Director, Bail, Sentencing and Release Policy; Section Head, Criminal Court Policy; Director, Offender and Youth Justice Policy; Director, Offender and Youth Justice Policy; Statistician, Youth Justice Board; Data Analyst, Youth Justice Board; Head of Courts and Sentencing, Youth Justice Policy; Deputy Director, Crime; Crime Service Manager (Case Progression) - Courts and Tribunals Development; Deputy Director, Legal Operations - Courts & Tribunals Development Directorate; Head of Criminal Law policy; 6 Policy Advisors.

Home Office

Home Secretary; Private Secretary to the Home Secretary; Deputy Principal Private Secretary to the Home Secretary; Permanent Secretary, Home Office; Assistant Private Secretary to the Home Office Permanent Secretary; Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Service; Assistant Private Secretary Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Service; Director of Crime, Home Office; Head of Crime and Policing Statistics, Home Office.

The Judiciary

Lord Chief Justice; Private Secretary to the Lord Chief Justice; Head of Lord Chief Justice’s Criminal Justice Team; Lead for Criminal Justice for the Senior Judiciary.

Other

Principal Analyst (Ju

The report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending June 2021 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer-term trends.

We continue to review our data gathering, access and release practices during the pandemic, focusing efforts on priority analysis and statistics. Our statement explains this further. We have resumed access to the Police National Computer following the pause to minimise non-essential travel by our analysts. A backdated series for offender histories (quarterly data from year ending Q1 2021 and Q2 2021) has been provided alongside this bulletin. We expect cautions data to be reinstated in our Q4 release in May 2022. We will keep users updated of any further changes via our published release calendar.

Statistician’s comment:

The figures published today continue to reflect the impact of the pandemic on court processes and prioritisation, in particular the reduced court activity during periods of restrictions and subsequent recovery.

Prosecutions for indictable offences have recovered to levels similar to before the pandemic, while monthly data shows summary offence prosecutions continue to recover.

The types of cases prioritised during the pandemic and pleas associated with these are likely to continue to affect the short-term fluctuations in custody rates and average sentence lengths. The latest annual data in the current period covers July 2020 to June 2021, and it shows a reduction in the proportion of those sentenced receiving custody (custody rate) – this is likely to at least in part be due to prioritisation of prosecutions most likely to result in custody in the early stages of the pandemic, and recently, more of the less serious cases showing in the data. In contrast, average custodial sentence lengths continue to increase, indicating that those cases resulting in custody remain amongst the most serious.

Change to note

Common Platform and reform to criminal court data

The ‘Common Platform’ is a new digital case management system for the magistrates’ and Crown Courts. The system seeks to streamline data collection, data accessibility and improve the way criminal cases are processed across the Criminal Justice System. It will eventually replace the existing ‘legacy’ criminal court systems Libra (magistrates’) and XHIBIT (Crown), with a single, streamlined system.

Early adopter courts across England and Wales have tested the system prior to roll-out to all criminal courts. Derbyshire magistrates’ and Crown Court began this process in September 2020 and the roll-out has continued across England and Wales.

Court proceedings data recorded on the Common Platform are not included in this publication. It is estimated that in the period covered by this publication, a maximum of 7,700 cases from these courts are missing as a result. This accounts for less than 1% of published court proceedings data for this period. This proportion is expected to rise for future quarterly publications as the roll-out continues.

It is not yet known how significant the impact will be, but as a minimum we expect some series to be disrupted, and we may also decide to withhold or delay some publications of quarterly data. We are committed to ensuring that published statistics remain accurate, robust and coherent for users during the operational transition of data systems at the criminal courts.

The report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending March 2021 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer-term trends.

We continue to review our data gathering, access and release practices during the pandemic, focusing efforts on priority analysis and statistics. Our statement explains this further. Of particular note, we have now resumed access to the Police National Computer following the pause to minimise non-essential travel by our analysts. A backdated series for offender histories (quarterly data from year ending Q1 to year ending Q4 2020) has been provided alongside this bulletin. However, work is being resumed on a priority basis in line with guidance from the Office for Statistics Regulation, we expect cautions data to be reinstated in subsequent releases. We will keep users updated of any further changes via our published release calendar.

Statistician’s comment:

The figures published today highlight a full year’s impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on criminal court prosecutions and outcomes. Latest short-term trends are mostly reflective of the impact of the pandemic on court processes and prioritisation rather than a continuation of the longer-term series.

The monthly data shows that following the sharp falls in overall prosecutions and convictions immediately following the March 2020 ‘lockdown’, these have since recovered, although not quite to pre-pandemic levels. Indictable offences have recovered faster than summary offences, reflecting the prioritisation of cases that were likely to result in a custodial sentence, this has also led to an increase in the proportion of defendants remanded in custody.

The custody rate increased in the latest year due to a higher proportion of indictable offences dealt with in court since April 2020, however, most offence groups have seen a decrease in the average custodial sentence length. The types of cases prioritised during the pandemic and pleas associated with these are likely to have contributed to the short-term fluctuations in custody rates and average sentence lengths.

Change to note

Common Platform and reform to criminal court data

The ‘Common Platform’ is a new digital case management system for the magistrates’ and Crown Courts. The system seeks to streamline data collection, data accessibility and improve the way criminal cases are processed across the Criminal Justice System. It will eventually replace the existing ‘legacy’ criminal court systems Libra (magistrates’) and XHIBIT (Crown), with a single, streamlined system.

Early adopter courts across England and Wales have tested the system prior to roll-out to all criminal courts. Derbyshire magistrates’ and Crown Court began this process in September 2020 and the roll-out has continued across England and Wales.

Court proceedings data recorded on the Common Platform are not included in this publication. It is estimated that in the period covered by this publication, a maximum of 1,700 cases from these courts are missing as a result. This accounts for less than 1% of published court proceedings data for this period. This proportion is expected to rise for future quarterly publications as the roll-out continues.

It is not yet known how significant the impact will be, but as a minimum we expect some series to be disrupted, and we may also decide to withhold or delay some publications of quarterly data. We are committed to ensuring that published statistics remain accurate, robust and coherent for users during the operational transition of data systems at the criminal courts.