DATA ELEMENTS AND DATA ELEMENT CONCEPTS
DATE OF COMMITTAL
IDENTIFYING AND DEFINITIONAL ATTRIBUTES
Metadata type:
DATA ELEMENT Version: 1
Definition:
The date that a defendant is formally committed from a Magistrates' Court to a higher criminal court.
Context:
Committals are usually the first stage of hearing indictable offences in the criminal justice system. A magistrate assesses the evidence presented against the defendant and decides whether it is sufficient to warrant the defendant being committed to a higher criminal court.
RELATIONAL AND REPRESENTATIONAL ATTRIBUTES
Datatype:
Alphanumeric
Field size:
Min: 10 Max: 10
Representational form:
Date
Representational layout:
DD/MM/YYYY
Data domain:
Valid date
Guide for use:
Higher Criminal Courts
Only one Date of Committal may be applied to each defendant's case. National coding rules (see below) are applied to determine the appropriate Date of Committal when the defendant has multiple charges, which have different committal dates.
The coding rules for determining Date of Committal are:
1. Where a defendant has a single charge, the charge Date of Committal is also the defendant Date of Committal.
2. Where a defendant has multiple charges, and these charges have the same Date of Committal, this is also the defendant Date of Committal.
3. Where a defendant has multiple charges and these charges have differing Dates of Committal, the defendant Date of Committal is the Date of Committal of the earliest charge.
For example, a defendant has three charges, all of which were committed to a higher court on the following dates:
Charge 1 was laid on 10/08/2004 and committed on 21/09/2004
Charge 2 was laid on 10/08/2004 and committed on 22/09/2004
Charge 3 was laid on 12/08/2004 and committed on 23/09/2004
The Date of Committal for this defendant is 21/09/2004, the date of committal of the earliest charge.
Magistrates' Criminal Courts
When all charges for a defendant are finalised by committal proceedings, the date of committal of the latest charge will actually correspond to the Date of Finalisation for that defendant. Date of Committal is not a required data element for defendants finalised in the Magistrates' Criminal Courts.
Verification rules:
Date of Committal is applicable to all defendants who entered a higher court as a direct result of committal proceedings. Date of Committal should be blank for all other defendants.
For higher court defendants, where there is a Date of Committal and a Date of Registration, Date of Committal must fall on or before Date of Registration.
Collection methods:
Date of Committal is taken from the date on the committal notice.
Related metadata:
Is used to derive the data element:
Is related to the data element:
Date of Registration
Method of Initiation
Committal Plea
ADMINISTRATIVE ATTRIBUTES
Source document:
1. Higher Criminal Courts Collection Manual
2. 2004 Data Collection Manual
Source organisation:
1. Australian Bureau of Statistics
2. Court Administration Working Group
History:
Commenced 2005
Comments:
None
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