Wales’ Magistrates Courts are the most efficient in the UK at receiving guilty pleas at first hearings.
Latest figures released show that Wales has a 65% rate of guilty pleas at first hearing, compared with the national average of 56%.
The earlier the guilty plea is received from the defendant, the less time and money it costs the criminal justice system.
Iolo Thomas, Justice’s Clerk for North Wales said: “The aim is to make the Magistrates Court process simpler, make it faster and make it much more focused on getting an efficient, quick service.
“A lot of time is wasted at court and we need to put an end to that and the drain on public money whilst at the same time ensuring that the process is just and fair.”
The process is part of the Simple, Speedy, Summary Justice programme which is designed to make justice faster, more efficient and more effective.
Gerallt Evans from North Wales’ CPS explained that a more efficient Court system benefits a number of parties: “The SSSJ programme is designed to provide noticeable benefits not only to every agency involved in the Criminal Justice process but importantly to victims and witnesses of crime.”
“By reducing the number of hearings and ensuring trials are effective, they have had an enhanced experience of the criminal justice process and seen the case they are involved in being dealt with promptly.”
The benefits can also stretch across a number of parties, as Mr Evans explained:
“Police officers can concentrate on the cases that really matter, because of the improved guilty plea rate police officers are needed less often in court. Probation officers have to prepare less full pre-sentence reports.”
Historically it took 4.5 hearings on average to dispose of simple trial cases but Wales’ latest figures show that this has now been reduced to 2.25 hearings.
A more efficient magistrate court system can reduce the average time from charge to disposal, get a higher rate of guilty please finalised in just one hearing and get contested cases finalised in less hearings.
