§ Mrs. Anne CampbellTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what proportion of criminal cases were overturned on appeal in each of the last five years; and what proportion involved evidence from expert witnesses. [147186]
§ Mr. LeslieFigures showing(a) the number of defendants convicted in the lower courts, (b) those that appealed to the higher courts either against conviction and/or sentence and (c) the number of appeals allowed or varied are provided in the following tables. Information relating to the involvement of expert witnesses in criminal cases is not collected centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Court of Appeal Convicted in the Crown
court
Lodged appeal
Conviction quashed or
sentence
varied
Appeal allowed as
percentage
of those
convicted
Appeal allowed as
percentage
of appeals
lodged
1998 63,585 8,649 1,921 3.0 22.2 1999 57,615 8,274 1,690 2.9 20.4 2000 56,130 7,840 1,385 2.5 17.7 2001 55,164 7,440 1,202 2.2 16.2 2002 58,587 7,718 1,418 2.4 18.4
Crown court Convicted in the
magistrates
court
Lodged appeal
Conviction quashed or
sentence
varied
Appeal allowed as
percentage
of those
convicted
Appeal allowed as
percentage
of appeals
lodged
1998 1,407,781 15,071 6,703 0.5 44.5 1999 1,351,245 14,510 6,406 0.5 44.1 2000 1,367,304 13,032 6,065 0.4 46.5 2001 1,293,308 11,818 5,381 0.4 45.5 2002 1,361,637 11,124 4,795 0.4 43.1