1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2003

ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 24/01/2003

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Contents >> Crime and Justice >> Courts - Criminal courts

A system of courts for the hearing of criminal matters exists in all Australian states and territories. Once charges are laid by police, the court will hear evidence by both prosecution and defence, and will make a decision as to whether or not the defendant is guilty. In cases where the defendant is found guilty, the court may also record a conviction and impose a penalty.

The courts in Australia are arranged hierarchically. The lowest level of criminal court is the Magistrates' Court or Court of Summary Jurisdiction. The majority of all criminal cases are heard in these courts. Cases heard in Magistrates' Courts do not involve a jury; the magistrate determines the guilt of the defendant. This is known as a summary proceeding. Relatively minor offences such as property damage or minor road traffic offences can be dealt with in this way. More serious offences are dealt with by the higher court levels. All states and territories have a Supreme Court which can deal with all criminal matters. The larger jurisdictions also have an intermediate level of court, known as the District or County Court, which deals with the majority of serious offences. The Supreme Courts and Intermediate Courts are collectively referred to as the Higher Courts.

All offences which are dealt with by the Higher Courts have an automatic entitlement to a trial before a judge and jury. In some jurisdictions, the defendant may elect to have the matter heard before a judge alone. Offences which must be heard before a judge and jury are known as indictable offences. These include offences such as murder, manslaughter and drug importation as well as serious sexual offences, robberies and assaults.

The defendant proven guilty in a criminal matter is entitled to appeal against the conviction or severity of penalty imposed. Under some circumstances, the prosecution is also entitled to appeal against the leniency of the penalty. The states and territories differ in the ways in which they deal with appeals. Some appeals from Magistrates' Courts may be heard before the Intermediate Courts. In other jurisdictions, the Supreme Court may hear these appeals. In most jurisdictions, an appeal court or Court of Criminal Appeal may be constituted to hear appeals from the Supreme or Intermediate Courts. In Australia, the highest court of appeal from all jurisdictions is the High Court of Australia.

National criminal courts statistics

As well as differences across the states and territories in terms of legislation, court procedures and the type of matters dealt with, there are also variations in data management practices and differences in the information that is collected as part of court processes. The net result of such differences has been a lack of readily available nationally comparable data on court activities and the characteristics of people whose matters are handled by the various courts. The aim of national criminal courts statistics collection undertaken by the ABS is to progressively redress this situation through the application of national data standards and counting rules.

Higher criminal courts

Table 11.18 summarises the number of defendants with cases in the Higher Criminal Courts during 2000-01. There were 6,823 defendants pending at the start of 2000-01 and 10,711 defendants initiated during 2000-01, giving a total workload of 17,534 defendants who had criminal cases active at some time during 2000-01, excluding defendants in Queensland (for which there are only partial data - see footnote (b) in the table). There were 10,786 defendants finalised in the Higher Courts during 2000-01.

11.18 DEFENDANTS INITIATED, FINALISED AND PENDING - 2000-01(a)
Status	Units	NSW	Vic.	Qld(b)	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.(b)

SUPREME COURT

Pending at start	no.	157	75	n.a.	48	93	246	200	188	n.a.
Initiated	no.	112	84	n.a.	32	204	442	365	168	n.a.
Finalised	no.	117	100	785	70	225	450	360	189	2,296
Proportion of active finalised	%	43.2	61.0	n.a.	63.1	68.2	65.4	63.7	53.1	n.a.

INTERMEDIATE COURT(c)

Pending at start	no.	2,323	1,289	n.a.	489	1,715	. .	. .	. .	n.a.
Initiated	no.	3,341	2,051	n.a.	1,010	2,902	. .	. .	. .	n.a.
Finalised	no.	3,542	2,055	6,147	860	2,818	. .	. .	. .	15,422
Proportion of active finalised	%	62.6	61.6	n.a.	58.6	61.5	. .	. .	. .	n.a.

TOTAL HIGHER COURTS

Pending at start	no.	2,480	1,364	n.a.	537	1,808	246	200	188	n.a.
Initiated	no.	3,453	2,135	n.a.	1,042	3,106	442	365	168	n.a.
Finalised	no.	3,659	2,155	6,932	930	3,043	450	360	189	17,718
Proportion of active finalised	%	61.7	61.6	n.a.	58.9	61.9	65.4	63.7	53.1	n.a.

(a) Data exclude defendants in appeal cases. (b) Pending and initiation data are currently not available for Qld. The Qld data for ‘finalised’ exclude bench warrants being issued. (c) There is no Intermediate Court in Tas., NT or ACT.
Source: Higher Criminal Courts, Australia, 2000-01 (4513.0).

Table 11.19 indicates the methods by which defendants involved in criminal cases were finalised in the Higher Court system during 2000-01. A defendant is regarded as finalised when all the charges laid against them have been concluded in some manner. Of the 17,718 defendants finalised during 2000-01, 77% (13,722) either pleaded guilty or were declared guilty, 7% (1,284) were acquitted and another 13% (2,225) had their charges withdrawn by the prosecution.

11.19 DEFENDANTS FINALISED, By method of finalisation - 2000-01(a)
			NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.

SUPREME COURT

Adjudicated
	Acquitted		23	19	13	12	7	32	16	16	138
	Proven guilty
		Guilty verdict	45	30	42	24	48	63	16	23	291
		Guilty plea(b)	43	44	623	20	156	264	299	116	1,565
		Total	88	74	665	44	204	327	315	139	1,856
	Total		111	93	678	56	211	359	331	155	1,994
Non-adjudicated
	Bench warrant issued		-	-	n.a.	2	5	6	11	-	(c)24
	Withdrawn		6	7	107	11	6	73	17	29	256
	Other finalisation		-	-	-	1	3	12	1	5	22
	Total		6	7	(c)107	14	14	91	29	34	(c)302
Total defendants finalised			117	100	(c)785	70	225	450	360	189	(c)2,296

INTERMEDIATE COURT(d)

Adjudicated
	Acquitted		379	150	301	57	259	. .	. .	. .	1,146
	Proven guilty
		Guilty verdict	318	211	287	85	348	. .	. .	. .	1,249
		Guilty plea(b)	2,351	1,620	4,377	456	1,813	. .	. .	. .	10,617
		Total	2,669	1,831	4,664	541	2,161	. .	. .	. .	11,866
	Total		3,048	1,981	4,965	598	2,420	. .	. .	. .	13,012
Non-adjudicated
	Bench warrant issued		110	27	n.a.	64	175	. .	. .	. .	(c)376
	Withdrawn		349	46	1,181	187	206	. .	. .	. .	1,969
	Other finalisation		35	1	1	11	17	. .	. .	. .	65
	Total		494	74	(c)1,182	262	398	. .	. .	. .	(c)2,410
Total defendants finalised			3,542	2,055	(c)6,147	860	2,818	. .	. .	. .	(c)15,422

TOTAL HIGHER COURTS

Adjudicated
	Acquitted		402	169	314	69	266	32	16	16	1,284
	Proven guilty
		Guilty verdict	363	241	329	109	396	63	16	23	1,540
		Guilty plea(b)	2,394	1,664	5,000	476	1,969	264	299	116	12,182
		Total	2,757	1,905	5,329	585	2,365	327	315	139	13,722
	Total		3,159	2,074	5,643	654	2,631	359	331	155	15,006
Non-adjudicated
	Bench warrant issued		110	27	n.a.	66	180	6	11	-	(c)400
	Withdrawn		355	53	1,288	198	212	73	17	29	2,225
	Other finalisation		35	1	1	12	20	12	1	5	87
	Total		500	81	(c)1,289	276	412	91	29	34	(c)2,712
Total defendants finalised			3,659	2,155	(c)6,932	930	3,043	450	360	189	(c)17,718

(a) Data exclude defendants finalised in appeal cases. (b) Includes defendants who initially pleaded not guilty but changed this to a guilty plea during proceedings. (c) These totals exclude Qld defendants finalised by a bench warrant being issued. (d) There is no Intermediate Court in Tas., NT or ACT.
Source: Higher Criminal Courts, Australia, 2000-01 (4513.0).

The process involved in adjudicating criminal charges depends on how a defendant pleads to the charges laid against them. Defendants who initially plead guilty to all charges are not subject to a jury trial and go through a sentence hearing to determine the penalty. In contrast, defendants who plead not guilty to at least one charge are typically subject to a trial by jury which determines whether they are acquitted or found guilty.

Graph 11.20 indicates the proportion of defendants whose initial and final pleas were guilty. The proportions who initially pleaded guilty varied noticeably across the states and territories, ranging from 5% in the Northern Territory to 55% in Western Australia. Changes in plea from not guilty to guilty also varied, with the changes proportionally highest in the Northern Territory (86%) and lowest in Western Australia (18%). However, there was less variation in the proportion of defendants who eventually pleaded guilty, ranging from 70% in South Australia to 90% in the Northern Territory.

Graph - 11.20 Adjudicated defendants, by plea - 2000-01

Graph 11.21 shows the proportion of defendants by age group and sex during 2000-01. The majority (51%) of the 17,718 defendants who were finalised by the Higher Courts in 2000-01 were aged between 17 and 29 years. Males represented 87% of total finalised defendants. Of all defendants finalised during 2000-01, 44% were males aged 17 to 29 years.

Graph - 11.21 Total higher courts, Defendants(a) finalised - 2000-01

Of the defendants proven guilty in the Higher Criminal Courts during 2000-01, excluding the Australian Capital Territory, approximately 55% received a sentence of imprisonment. The proportion was highest for those proven guilty of homicide or a related offence (89%) (graph 11.22).

Graph - 11.22 Defendants proven guilty, Sentenced to imprisonment(a) - 2000-01

For defendants who have been dealt with by the courts, duration figures are available that indicate the elapsed time taken to finalise all charges for a defendant from the date the defendant's case commenced. The total duration for a finalised defendant includes the time taken by the defence and prosecution to prepare their cases, the time taken to list the case and the actual time taken for any hearings.

Table 11.23 provides median duration statistics from initiation to finalisation for defendants in each state and territory. The median duration was shortest in Western Australia and Tasmania (15 weeks) and longest in the Australian Capital Territory (33 weeks). Duration is affected by issues such as the seriousness of the offence with which a defendant has been charged, the type of plea entered, as well as court practices in relation to pre-trial discussions and case listing. In terms of the type of offences considered, there are differing Higher Criminal Court workloads across the states and territories. Defendants finalised in 2000-01 by the trial outcome of guilty verdict had the longest median duration time at 49 weeks.

For all states and territories for which data were available, the median duration for defendants who initially pleaded not guilty was more than double that of defendants who initially pleaded guilty.

11.23 DEFENDANTS(a) IN HIGHER CRIMINAL COURTS, Median duration (weeks) to finalisation - 2000-01(a)
Method of finalisation		NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.

Acquitted		38.2	41.7	32.5	34.3	60.3	24.6	63.4	57.6	41.5
Guilty verdict		52.3	51.1	34.9	40.1	63.1	23.0	42.8	53.3	49.3
Guilty plea		19.1	18.1	18.6	19.8	10.1	10.5	16.0	16.9	16.7
	Initial plea of not guilty(b)	31.1	31.7	n.a.	23.2	31.0	13.7	17.2	55.3	n.a.
	Initial plea of guilty(b)	13.0	13.6	n.a.	11.4	8.0	6.4	5.0	12.6	n.a.
Other finalisation(c)		30.6	41.3	28.4	14.2	27.1	20.9	26.6	67.1	27.0
Total defendants finalised		24.4	23.0	21.7	21.3	14.6	14.6	18.1	33.1	21.3

(a) Data exclude defendants finalised in appeal cases. (b) Information on both initial and final pleas was not available in Qld. (c) Includes defendants who were withdrawn by the prosecution, remitted to the Magistrates' Court or finalised by another non-adjudicated method.
Source: Higher Criminal Courts, Australia, 2000-01 (4513.0).

Total criminal cases

Table 11.24 shows the total number of criminal cases handled in the courts of Australia, including appeal and non-appeal cases. Of all the criminal cases filed in Australia during 2000-01, 99% were filed in the Magistrates' Courts, with Victoria and Queensland contributing 60% to the national total. A large proportion of cases in the Magistrates' Court in most states and territories are minor traffic matters.

11.24 CRIMINAL COURT CASES(a)(b) - 2000-01
	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.
Court level	’000	’000	’000	’000	’000	’000	’000	’000	’000

Supreme Court	1.0	0.7	1.4	0.3	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.2	4.9
District/County Court(c)	8.5	4.4	8.1	1.3	3.1	. .	. .	. .	25.4
Magistrates' Court(d)(e)(f)	284.3	762.8	470.8	171.4	272.5	65.1	12.4	10.4	2,049.8
Total	293.8	768.0	480.3	173.0	276.1	65.6	12.8	10.7	2,080.1

(a) Cases are defined as one or more defendants with one or more criminal matters before the courts. (b) Data include appeal and non-appeal cases. (c) The NT, ACT and Tas. do not have District/County Courts. (d) Qld lodgment data for the Magistrates' Court have been extrapolated using available data for the period January to June 2001. (e) Tas. has estimated statewide totals for criminal magistrates' lodgments (both minor and primary). (f) Includes Childrens and Electronic Courts.
Source: Steering Committee for the Review of Commonwealth/State Service Provision, 'Report on Government Services 2002'.