§ Mr. Roseasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will circulate in the Official Report the proportion of acquittals in contested cases before magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in respect of offences which can now be tried at the Crown Court but which under the Criminal Law Bill [Lords] would be triable solely before magistrates' courts.
§ Mr. JohnWe have been able very recently to extract from the Criminal Statistics the following information on acquittal rates in this category. The information in the Criminal Statistics generally, and therefore in the following table, is recorded on the "principal offence" basis as defined in Chapter 1 of Criminal Statistics 1975 (Cmnd 6566). This means that where one person pleads not guilty to several charges in one set of proceedings and is acquitted on all, the outcome is recorded against the principal offence only, but that if he is convicted on one or more charges and acquitted on others the principal offence on which he is convicted is recorded. As separate figures are not available for thefts of £20 or less or for 601W criminal damage of £100 or less, some other available information about offences
PLEAS AND ACQUITTALS FOR CERTAIN OFFENCES BY TYPE OF COURT—1975 Magistrates' Courts The Crown Court Pleading not guilty Pleading not guilty Act or Section Number of persons pleading guilty of not guilty Number Proportion of those pleading not guilty who were acquitted per cent. Number of persons pleading guilty or not guilty Number Proportion of those pleading not guilty who were acquitted per cent. Police Act 1964 s. 51(1) 7,075 1,457 27 546 225 20 Sexual Offences Act 1956 s. 32 627 43 77 40 28 61* Public Order Act 1936 s. 5 and Public Meetings Act 1908 s. 1(1) 5,149 1,358 57 339 148 28 Theft Act 1968 Stealing from the person of another— under £5 855 107 70 116 79 32 £5 and over 1,186 104 77 166 85 32 Stealing in a dwelling other than from automatic machines and meters— under £5 935 4[...] 60 56 16 31* £5 and over 2,591 219 61 239 91 54 Stealing by an employee— under £5 2,808 226 57 202 134 75 £5 and over 8,589 358 54 1,622 500 59 Shoplifting— under £5 45,093 4,941 52 1,232 901 57 £5 and over 22,277 1,326 50 1,141 487 38 Theft or unauthorized taking of motor vehicle 36,818 2,991 72 2,673 706 57 Handling stolen goods 19,011 2,085 62 5,087 1,829 51 Other theft, etc.— under £5 35,900 3,755 64 1,419 615 61 £5 and over 41,620 3,568 61 4,194 1,572 56 Criminal Damage Act 1971 s. 1 (Arson) 1,381 218 51 666 140 31 Criminal damage endangering life 23 7 57* 24 5 20* Other criminal damage— £20 or under 23,607 3,443 61 606 252 58 over £20 14,665 1,815 55 811 315 44 Possession with intent or threat to commit criminal damage 386 80 73 61 39 28* Unfit to drive through drink or drugs: Road Traffic 57,150 2,132 42 2,455 1,234 40 * Percentages based on small numbers.