§ Mr. Marshall-AndrewsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the impact of the requirement to plead before venue for each of the years 1997, 1998 and 1999. [110425]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeSection 49 of the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 ("plea before venue") provides for defendants in either-way cases to be asked to indicate their plea before the magistrates decide whether to accept or decline jurisdiction. Its purpose is to allow cases in which a guilty plea is indicated, and which might previously have been committed for trial, to be dealt with by the magistrates themselves where the appropriate sentence (after any discount for the guilty plea) is within the court's powers, or if not through being committed to the Crown Court for sentence. The provision was implemented in October 1997, since when (as expected) substantially fewer cases have been committed for trial, but there has been a significant increase in the numbers committed for sentence. Statistics collected by the Crown Prosecution Service show that the percentage of either-way cases committed for trial reaching the Crown Court by way of the defendant's election was 28 per cent. in 1997 and 1998, and 32 per cent. in 1999. 623W
Number of defendants at magistrates' courts committed for trial or sentence for a triable either-way offence1 in 1997, 1998 and
January to June 19992
Year Committed for trial Committed for sentence 1997 66,456 6,823 1998 51,952 18,185 January-June 19992 25,777 9,533 1 Where the triable either-way offence is the principal offence 2 Data for this period are provisional