General Performance

The following information relates to the year 2003-2004 unless otherwise stated.

Convictions

The conviction rate in the Magistrates' Court is 98% and it is 91% in the Crown Court.

Reducing discontinued cases

There are many different reasons why some cases are discontinued, for example, due to lack of evidence or witnesses not turning up at court.

We aim to keep the discontinuance rate as low as possible and have achieved a low rate of 7% in the Magistrates' Court. The discontinuance rate in the Crown Court was higher at 12% and this year (2004-2005), we hope to reduce it to at least and 9%.

Performance with our partners

Since April 2003, all criminal justice agencies in Northamptonshire have been working towards shared targets under the Local Criminal Justice Board.

We have made a significant contribution to improving the local Criminal Justice System by working in partnership with criminal justice agencies in the county.

The following summary of performance against key targets is for the year 2003-2004.

Offences brought to justice

The number of offences brought to justice in Northamptonshire was 16,850.

This represents a 31.5% increase in the number of offences brought to justice compared to the previous year, the highest increase in the country (with the next best performers being Surrey at 27%, Kent at 26% and Leicestershire at 24%).

Public confidence

Figures show that the level of public confidence in the Criminal Justice System around the country is still low.

Persistent Young Offenders

The national target is to deal with persistent young offenders within an average time of 71 days from arrest to sentence. This timeliness is now being consistently achieved each month.