A.9 ANALYSIS OF AGENCY PERFORMANCE

THE BLITZ

A major focus of the Office in the reporting period was what became known as the Blitz. Following a government announcement of extra resources to tackle the backlog of matters awaiting trial in the Supreme Court (including some extra resources for the Office) there was a frenetic period of planning and recruiting to get ready. For criminal matters the Blitz consisted of two six week periods where large numbers of trials were listed each week. (The second of those periods actually extended past the reporting period, but it will be convenient to report here on the entire Blitz.)

The office recruited additional prosecutors, paralegals and administrative staff to deal with the additional workload. The extent of that workload is attested to by the statistics. Combining the figures from both Blitz periods, there were 99 trials listed, and only 3 of those were not reached. Eight matters were vacated for various reasons. Of the remainder, there were 50 pleas of guilty, 13 matters discontinued by the prosecution, and 25 trials that ran. Of the trials that ran, there were 16 verdicts of guilty and 9 of not guilty.

This means that 51% of all matters ended in a plea of guilty, as against 25% that ran to trial. It must be emphasised that these are all matters that were listed for trial – in other words instructions had originally been given for a not guilty plea. Many of the pleas of guilty were achieved by negotiation – sometimes to counts being “rolled up”, sometimes with pleas to some counts in full satisfaction of the indictment, and sometimes by agreement as to the facts with the indictment remaining the same. Similarly, some matters were discontinued on the basis that pleas of guilty would be entered in the Magistrates Court, while other matters that were discontinued had more appropriate summary charges which may now proceed in the Magistrates Court.

The preparation of 99 additional trials - on top of all the normal court work - required a supreme effort from staff in all sections of the Office. Briefs of evidence had to be compiled, witnesses had to be contacted, subpoenas issued, conferences arranged, travel and accommodation organised – and of course prosecutors had to prepare matters for presentation in court. The experience was that pleas of guilty were usually only confirmed just before trial, when most of the work of preparing the trial had already been done. All this affirmed what experienced litigators already know – that it is proximity of the impending trial which concentrates the mind of both accused persons and prosecutors and leads to resolution of matters.

PARALEGALS

STAFFING RE-STRUCTURES

The 2011-12 year has seen a continuation and consolidation of the previous year’s restructure within the legal support service of the DPP, which was reported last year.

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ANNUAL REPORT  2011-12  DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS                                                                                    11