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DATA ELEMENTS AND DATA ELEMENT CONCEPTS


DATE OF FINALISATION


IDENTIFYING AND DEFINITIONAL ATTRIBUTES

Metadata type:

DATA ELEMENT Version: 1

Definition:

The date on which all charges laid against a defendant are regarded as formally completed by a particular court level and the defendant ceases to be an active unit of work to be dealt with by that court level.

Context:

When considered along with Date of Initiation, Date of Finalisation allows for calculation of the duration of a defendant's case.

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:

Only one Date of Finalisation may be recorded for each defendant's case. National coding rules (see below) are applied to determine the appropriate Date of Finalisation when the defendant has multiple charges, which have different finalisation dates.

The coding rules for determining Date of Finalisation are:

1. Where a defendant has a single charge, the charge date of finalisation is also the defendant Date of Finalisation.
2. Where a defendant has multiple charges, and these charges have the same dates of finalisation, this is also the defendant Date of Finalisation.
3. Where a defendant has multiple charges and these charges have differing dates of finalisation, the defendant Date of Finalisation is the latest charge date of finalisation.

Verification rules:

Date of Finalisation is only applicable to finalised defendants.

All charges for a defendant relating to the one case have been finalised and so have a valid Date of Finalisation and the related data elements Method of Finalisation and Final Plea.

A defendant Date of Finalisation should not be prior to Date of Verdict or Date of Initiation.

Collection methods:

Depending on the Method of Finalisation, the Date of Finalisation could be:

• the date when a judgement is handed down or an acquittal finding is made within a particular court level;
• the date when sentencing occurs;
• the date that the defendant is last acknowledged as an item of work of the court (for example, the day the court is notified that the defendant is deceased);
• the date of transfer of the case to another court level;
• the date at the committal hearing at which the defendant is committed to a higher court;
• the date at which the prosecution withdraws the charges against the defendant; or
• the date that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) advise the court they will not proceed further, i.e. No True Bill or Nolle Prosequi.

Related metadata:

Is used to derive the data element:

Duration

Date of Verdict
Method of Finalisation
Final Plea

Finalised Defendant

1. Higher Criminal Courts Collection Manual

2. Magistrates' Criminal Courts Collection Manual

3. 2004 Data Collection Manual

Source organisation:

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics

2. Australian Bureau of Statistics

3. Court Administration Working Group

History:

Commenced 2005

Comments:

None