HC Deb 15 February 1979 vol 962 cc588-9W
Mr.Lawrence

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the latest figures expressed both in numbers and percentages of acquittals over the previous 12 months of persons who were tried after pleas of not guilty in (a) the magistrate's courts and (b)crown courts.

Mr.John

The only readily available information on pleas and acquittals relates to defendants aged 17 and over pleading not guilty to indictable offences, which for 1977 is given in table 4.5 of "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales 1977" (Cmnd. 7289). Information for 1978 is not yet available.