NCJ Number
208253
Date Published
August 2004
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This bulletin examines long-term trends in time frames for trial case processing in New South Wales (Australia), and suggests the focus for future case-processing research.
Abstract
There has been a substantial reduction in the time it takes for cases to proceed from committal to outcome in the New South Wales District Court. In 2003, the median time for trial cases in which the accused was on bail was about one third of the time taken in 1988 and approximately one-half the time required in 1994. Since 1998, however, the reduction in time between committal and outcome in the District Court has increasingly been offset by an increase in the time between arrest and committal for trial cases in the local court. The median time from arrest to committal for cases that went to trial was 101 days in 1998. By 2003, it had increased to more than 181 days. The median time between arrest and committal for cases in which the accused was committed for sentences was 72 days in 1998. By 2003, the time had increased to 137 days. Possible reasons for this increase in processing delays between arrest and committal are the introduction of a scheme under which all committal hearings were centralized rather than being handled separately by each local court; delays by prosecutors in the provision of DNA results; drug analyst certificates; fingerprint and ballistic evidence; transcripts of telephone intercepts; and the interpretation of foreign-language material. 5 figures and 7 references