NCJ Number
139551
Date Published
1992
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Data on the duration of trial and sentence hearings in New South Wales (Australia) are reported, and their implications in devising calculations to obtain an offense- based costing of District Criminal Court time are discussed.
Abstract
The amount of court time consumed by different offense groups within the District Criminal Court is calculated by dividing cases in each category into defended and sentence matters. Cases disposed of other than by a trial or a sentence hearing are classified together as mentions. In 1990, over 20 percent of the total number of cases disposed of by the District Criminal Court could be classified as mentions. The results show that, when combined, the offense categories of sexual assault, robbery/extortion, and assault account for 56 percent of the court time used by District Criminal Court trials. Together with fraud violations, these offenses account for 54 percent of the court's time devoted to sentence matters. Robbery/extortion, assault, sexual assault, and fraud account for two-thirds of all court hearing time devoted to trials, sentencing, or mentions. There are several areas which merit further study: possible reductions in the duration of very long trials, reductions in the number of cases competing for hearing time in the District Criminal Court, reassignment of some cases to local magistrates, and development of strategies to increase the proportion of defendants pleading guilty at the District Court level. 9 tables, 6 figures, and 20 notes