NCJ Number
136427
Date Published
1989
Length
71 pages
Annotation
Section 22 of the Prosecution of Offenses Act 1985 gives the British Home Secretary the power to impose time limits, separately in custody and bail cases, to specified stages of criminal proceedings up to the beginning of trial.
Abstract
Field trials were conducted in four jurisdictions in Britain prior to mandatory implementation of these provisions. The field trials examined the levels of compliance with test limits, case factors associated with long trial delay, the proportion of elapsed time attributable to various criminal justice agencies, the intervals between key events or decisions, and the difficulties faced by prosecutors in meeting the test limits. Following a description of the overall design of the field trials, this report discusses the time spent awaiting summary trial in custody or on bail as well as case processing times for defendants remanded by magistrates before committal for trial at the Crown Court. Separate chapters are concerned with the time spent in custody or on bail between committal and arraignment and the interval between arraignment and trial. 3 appendixes