§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will give separately for magistrates courts and Crown courts for(a) 1988 and (b) for 1989 the number of cases involving non-scheduled offences in which pleas of not guilty were entered; in how many of these cases verdicts of not guilty were returned; and in how many of these cases trial was by jury.
§ Mr. Cope[holding answer 4 July 1990]: (a) Figures for 1988 are:
Magistrates courts Crown courts Plea: Not guilty 4,696 188 Verdict: Not guilty 3,209 91 (b) Figures for 1989 are:
Magistrates courts Crown courts Plea: Not guilty 4,006 144 Verdict: Not guilty 3,072 91 All Crown court cases involving non-scheduled offences where not guilty pleas were entered were tried by
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Sentenced male prison population, 28 December 1989 Ages Sentence group Less than 18 years 18 to under 25 years 25 to under 30 years 30 to under 40 years 40 to under 50 years 50 to under 60 years 60 years plus Total Up to 3 months Scheduled 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 3 Non-scheduled 0 12 3 2 1 0 0 18 3 to 6 months Scheduled 0 5 2 1 1 0 0 9 Non-scheduled 5 16 7 7 6 0 0 41 6 to 12 months Scheduled 1 7 2 1 0 0 0 11 Non-scheduled 3 43 14 15 5 1 1 82 12 to 18 months Scheduled 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 3 Non-scheduled 1 8 2 1 1 1 1 15 18 months to 4 years Scheduled 1 101 34 26 4 0 0 166 Non-scheduled 3 30 20 22 14 4 1 94 jury. Figures for magistrates courts include all offences with a plea of not guilty and therefore include a small number of 'terrorist-type' offences.