UNPUBLISHED CROWN PROSECUTION SERVICE STATISTICS RE "NOT GUILTY" LONDON TRIAL VERDICTS

 

16. Mar. 2010. – 12:43:29

Arresting suspected criminals is the job of the Police. Bringing suspected criminals to court and offering evidence against them if they plead not guilty is the job of the Crown Prosecution Service. The CPS operates within a strictly defined code.

Very many defendants plead guilty at various stages from arrest or even when their trial is about to begin. I am not about to consider this category. This post is about those who have pleaded not guilty and proceed to trial at Magistrates` Courts in London.

Discussing trial outcomes with colleagues and senior officers in other areas of the criminal justice system it was suggested that I endeavour to ascertain the proportion of those found not guilty after trial at Magistrates` Courts. Subsequent conversations showed that the publication of such statistics ceased in 1999. However this blogger has been given figures for the last three years which are cause for concern.
Today's report from the BBC also expresses that concern and here are the figures which prove that concern is well founded:-

The overall figure for London`s Magistrates` Courts where the defendants are found not guilty after trial is 36.96% Disregarding those London magistrates courts where the numbers are too low to be meaningful the latest statistics for those found Not Guilty after trial vary from 13.88% at Wimbledon MC to 81.82 at Acton MC.

NAME OF MAGISTRATES` COURT                                                   % FOUND NOT GUILTY

Wimbledon                                                                        13.88
Richmond                                                                           14.92
Harrow                                                                               16.41
Bromley                                                                              17.41
Havering                                                                             17.61
Bexley                                                                                 20.81
Barking                                                                               21.38
Acton                                                                                  81.82
Greenwich                                                                          78.03
Thames                                                                               76.86
Woolwich                                                                           75.60
Highgate                                                                             75.56
Kingston                                                                             75.52
Enfield                                                                                75.25
Ealing                                                                                  73.56
Camberwell Green                                                                                    73.33
South West                                                                          72.46
Highbury                                                                             71.27
Sutton                                                                                  71.09

West London                                                                      70.20                      

I make no attempt to explain those figures but they do require to be explained by one more versed in the subject than I. And certainly CPS London should be focusing their minds if they are not already doing so on why such variations exist.