Court Prosecutions, Convictions and Out of Court Disposals Statistics for Northern Ireland, 2024
Date published:
The Department of Justice (DoJ) today published the Research and Statistical Bulletin ‘Court Prosecutions, Convictions and Out of Court Disposals Statistics for Northern Ireland, 2024’. It is an Official Statistics Publication.
This bulletin presents data on prosecutions and convictions by court type; gender and age; and disposal and offence category. Similar disaggregation has been applied in relation to out of court disposals data.
Summary
In general, the overall picture is that the number of cases dealt with at Magistrates’ courts has shown a small decrease since 2023, whilst the numbers dealt with at Crown Court are up slightly on last year’s total. The number of cases dealt with by way of out of court disposals has fallen in 2024 compared to the previous year.
PROSECUTIONS AND CONVICTIONS
- The number of prosecutions disposed at Crown Court in 2024 was 1,758, up slightly from 1,727 in 2023. Prosecutions at magistrates’ courts fell by 2.1% during the same period (2023, 29,437; 2024, 28,829).
- In 2024, 81.7% (24,981) of prosecutions in all courts resulted in a conviction, down from 83.5% in 2023.
- Males accounted for the majority of prosecutions in all courts (79.9%, 24,431).
- Defendants aged 30 to 49 accounted for half of prosecutions (51.6%) and convictions (51.4%). Those in the youngest age group, aged 10 – 17 years, (prosecutions, 2.2%; convictions, 2.0%) and oldest, aged 60 and over, (prosecutions, 6.1%; convictions, 5.4%) accounted for the lowest.
- Motoring offences made up the largest proportion of prosecutions (43.2%, 13,215) at all courts and drug offences had the highest conviction rate (92.9%, 2,465).
- Monetary penalties were the most frequently utilised disposal at all courts in 2024, with 54.6% (13,636) of all convictions having this type of disposal as their primary outcome. While 13.9% (3,474) of cases convicted at all courts resulted in a custodial outcome in 2024, the corresponding figure for Crown Court was 50.3% (765).
OUT OF COURT DISPOSALS
- A total of 345 Penalty Notices for Disorder (PNDs) were issued in 2024.
- Of all PNDs issued in 2024, 82.0% were to males and 33.3% to 18 to 24 year olds.
- PNDs were issued mainly for offences in the Public Order category (45.8%, 158).
- The number of out of court, diversionary disposals recorded against individuals’ criminal records in 2024 was 3,823, a decrease of 6.2% from 2023. Cautions made up 75.0% of them.
- Most diversionary disposals were issued to males (69.2%) and under 25 year olds (45.2%).
- Violence against the person and drug offences accounted for 27.7% and 20.1% of diversionary disposals respectively.
Notes to editors:
1.This bulletin presents prosecutions and convictions data for the year 2024 for all courts, magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court, which are disaggregated by age and gender of defendant, as well as details of out of court disposals completed during 2024. Data for the youth court, a special magistrates’ court which deals with proceedings against juveniles between the ages of 10 and 17, are included with those for the magistrates’ courts. The statistical coverage is restricted to those criminal prosecutions brought to court by the Public Prosecution Service on behalf of the PSNI, the National Crime Agency, the Airport Constabulary or Harbour Police in Northern Ireland and breaches of community sentences brought by the Probation Board for Northern Ireland (PBNI). Prosecutions brought by government departments, public bodies and private individuals are not included.
2.The data used in this bulletin were taken from the Causeway Data Sharing Mechanism (DSM1). They were extracted primarily based on records contained on the Criminal Records Viewer (CRV). The CRV is held on Causeway and utilises data which originated in the PSNI, PPS and from Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service. Causeway is an interconnected information system, launched as a joint undertaking by the Criminal Justice Organisations (CJOs) in Northern Ireland.
3.Historically, prior to 2006, data came from the PSNI’s Integrated Crime Information System (ICIS) and, prior to 2000, from manual returns collected at court and included information on prosecutions as well as convictions. For the period from 2006 – 2009, data were taken from the Criminal Records Viewer (CRV) which contains only data on convictions, so it was not possible to compile information on prosecutions for the period 2007 – 2009. From 2009 onwards, data have been sourced from the Causeway Data Sharing Mechanism (DSM1) and include prosecutions, convictions and out of court disposals. It is envisaged that the next publication in this series, containing data for 2025, will be available in early summer 2026.
4.Official Statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs and are produced free from any political interference. They are also subject to restrictions in terms of pre-release access. Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).
5.OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.
5.The bulletin will be available in PDF format from either the DoJ web-site or Analytical Services Group, Financial Services Division, Block C, Castle Buildings, Stormont Estate, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast BT4 3SG
Email: statistics.research@justice-ni.gov.uk.
7. For media enquiries contact the Department of Justice Press Office at: press.office@justice-ni.gov.uk.
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