Court cases taking longer

May 20, 2008

THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA – A new study says cases in adult criminal courts are taking longer to complete.

It took an average of eight months to dispose of a case in adult court in fiscal 2006-07, considerably longer than the six-month average five years earlier.

Statistics Canada says the blame may lie with the rising proportion of cases involving multiple charges.

Cases involving multiple charges represented 60 per cent of the adult caseload in 2006-07, compared with 57 per cent five years earlier and 53 per cent a decade earlier.

Just over 372,000 cases were completed in adult criminal courts, down seven per cent from five years earlier.

Nearly half of the cases completed in 2006-07 involved crimes against the person (25 per cent) and crimes against property (24 per cent).

Administration of justice offences comprised 17 per cent of adult court cases, and Criminal Code traffic offences, 14 per cent.

The remaining 20 per cent involved other Criminal Code and federal statute offences.

Almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of adult cases were concluded with a guilty verdict in 2006-07. The defendant pleaded guilty in 89 per cent of them.

Criminal Code traffic offences had the highest conviction rate, at 79 per cent, while crimes against the person garnered the lowest (53 per cent).

Probation was the most frequently imposed sanction in conviction cases (43 per cent). Custody was imposed in 34 per cent of those, while 30 per cent ended with fines.

The proportion of prison sentences was up slightly from five years earlier, while the percentage of fines was somewhat lower and the proportion for probation virtually unchanged.