NI: PPS taking 244 days to make Crown Court prosecution decisions

NI: PPS taking 244 days to make Crown Court prosecution decisions

The average length of time taken for the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) to decide whether or not a Crown Court case should proceed has increased by more than 21 per cent.

According to the statistical bulletin for 2018/19, the average days required for the issue of an indictable prosecution decision has increased to 244 days, up from 201 days in 2017/18.

Meanwhile, the length of time taken for summary prosecution decisions declined by five days to an average of 28 days.

The time taken for diversionary decisions has decreased across most types of diversions issued.

Cautions required an average of 24 days (25 days in 2017/18) and informed warnings 15 days (24 days in 2017/18). Youth conferences remained at an average of 17 days, with ‘other’ diversions decreasing from 33 days in 2017/18 to 22 days in 2018/19.

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