Australian Bureau of Statistics
Celebrating the International Year of Statistics 2013

DURATION OF CASES ADJUDICATED

The nature of the charges presented to the court for a defendant, along with the process required to deal with the charges, impact on the time required for a court to finalise a case. Court resources and complexity of cases can also have an impact. The duration of a case is calculated from the date of initiation to the date of finalisation of the case (for more information about duration see paragraph 61 of the Explanatory Notes).

For adjudicated defendants, the length of time to finalise cases remained stable between 2003-04 and 2011-12. In 2003-04 the proportion of defendants with cases finalised in less than 13 weeks was 77%, while the proportion of defendants with cases finalised in 52 weeks or more after initiation was 3%. The comparable figures for 2011-12 were 76% and 3% respectively.

For 2011-12, of defendants that were proven guilty by the court, more than three-quarters (77%) were finalised less than 13 weeks after initiation. Of those acquitted, 42% were finalised in this same time period.

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