This section provides an overview of prosecution brief outcomes and the stages of resolution for the month. The stage of resolution is where a legal outcome is attained and no further action is required to be taken on a file. The stage of resolution reflects the time of attaining that result relative to the legal process. The data presented in this section is counted by accused and not by file.
The pre-committal stage, pre-trial stage and trial stage in the tables below have been defined as:
- Pre-committal stage: Starts after charge determination acceptance and continues for as long as matters are in the Magistrates Court. For matters where there is no charge determination the committal stage will be added to PCMS and the data filled in retrospectively.
- Pre-trial stage: For matters that have been committed for trial (and committed for both trial and sentence). Matters committed for sentence only do not have this stage - they go straight to a sentencing stage.
- Trial stage: Starts 12 weeks before the first listed trial date (as long as it has not been vacated). This stage will remain current until the trial has an outcome regardless of how many times the trial is vacated.
Table 6.1. Stage of resolution for prosecution files finalised during the month1
| Pre-committal | Pre-trial | Trial stage2 | Total3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jul-23 | 113 | 18 | 53 | 184 |
61% | 10% | 29% | 100% | |
Aug-23 | 123 | 22 | 65 | 210 |
59% | 10% | 31% | 100% | |
Sep-23 | 112 | 21 | 59 | 192 |
58% | 11% | 31% | 100% | |
Oct-23 | 98 | 22 | 50 | 170 |
58% | 13% | 29% | 100% | |
Nov-23 | 116 | 20 | 59 | 195 |
59% | 10% | 30% | 100% | |
Dec-23 | 85 | 21 | 48 | 154 |
55% | 14% | 31% | 100% | |
Jan-24 | 113 | 12 | 35 | 160 |
71% | 8% | 22% | 100% | |
Feb-24 | 138 | 26 | 49 | 213 |
65% | 12% | 23% | 100% | |
Mar-24 | 124 | 10 | 42 | 176 |
70% | 6% | 24% | 100% | |
Apr-24 | 88 | 14 | 42 | 144 |
61% | 10% | 29% | 100% | |
May-24 | 164 | 26 | 32 | 222 |
74% | 12% | 14% | 100% | |
Jun-24 | 118 | 22 | 54 | 194 |
61% | 11% | 28% | 100% | |
2023-24 Total | 1392 | 234 | 588 | 2214 |
63% | 11% | 27% | 100% |
1. This data is counted by accused and not by file.
2. Prosecution files resolved at the 'trial' stage are based on all trials (listed in previous or the current month) that resolved during the month. Because of this, the 'trial' figures in this table will not match the figures in the other sections which are based on trials listed for hearing in the month, unless stated otherwise.
3. The total number of prosecution files in this table will not equal the total number of files closed in the month (section 1). This is because Table 6.1 relates to only prosecution files (counted by accused) whereas section 1 counts by file and includes other matters.
Table 6.2. Outcomes of prosecution files resolved during the pre-committal stage
Committed for sentence | Committed for trial (not finalised) |
Committed for trial & sent |
Tender no evidence | Pleads guilty (Magistrates Court) |
No case to answer | Other (including return to SAPOL) |
Total | |
Jul-23 | 34 | 62 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 113 |
30% | 55% | 4% | 1% | 8% | 0% | 3% | 100% | |
Aug-23 | 35 | 60 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 123 |
28% | 49% | 7% | 7% | 9% | 0% | 0% | 100% | |
Sep-23 | 34 | 50 | 3 | 8 | 15 | 0 | 2 | 112 |
30% | 45% | 3% | 7% | 13% | 0% | 2% | 100% | |
Oct-23 | 23 | 53 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 98 |
23% | 54% | 5% | 5% | 6% | 2% | 4% | 100% | |
Nov-23 | 27 | 62 | 2 | 6 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 116 |
23% | 53% | 2% | 5% | 16% | 0% | 1% | 100% | |
Dec-23 | 22 | 42 | 2 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 85 |
26% | 49% | 2% | 11% | 9% | 1% | 1% | 100% | |
Jan-24 | 31 | 55 | 1 | 8 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 113 |
27% | 49% | 1% | 7% | 12% | 2% | 2% | 100% | |
Feb-24 | 41 | 68 | 3 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 138 |
30% | 49% | 2% | 11% | 4% | 1% | 3% | 100% | |
Mar-24 | 37 | 61 | 0 | 7 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 124 |
30% | 49% | 0% | 6% | 15% | 0% | 0% | 100% | |
Apr-24 | 32 | 48 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 88 |
36% | 55% | 3% | 3% | 2% | 0% | 0% | 100% | |
May-24 | 36 | 92 | 6 | 11 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 164 |
22% | 56% | 4% | 7% | 11% | 1% | 0% | 100% | |
Jun-24 | 32 | 62 | 2 | 11 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 118 |
27% | 53% | 2% | 9% | 8% | 0% | 1% | 100% | |
Total | 384 | 715 | 39 | 93 | 135 | 8 | 18 | 1392 |
28% | 51% | 3% | 7% | 10% | 1% | 1% | 100% |
Table 6.3. Outcomes of prosecution files resolved during the post-committal pre-trial stage
| Guilty plea (all/some/lesser) | Nolle Prosequi | White Paper | Other1 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jul-23 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 18 |
67% | 17% | 17% | 0% | 100% | |
Aug-23 | 13 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 22 |
59% | 5% | 32% | 5% | 100% | |
Sep-23 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 21 |
52% | 14% | 29% | 5% | 100% | |
Oct-23 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 22 |
45% | 18% | 27% | 9% | 100% | |
Nov-23 | 13 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 20 |
65% | 10% | 25% | 0% | 100% | |
Dec-23 | 15 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 21 |
71% | 5% | 19% | 5% | 100% | |
Jan-24 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 12 |
75% | 0% | 25% | 0% | 100% | |
Feb-24 | 20 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 26 |
77% | 8% | 8% | 8% | 100% | |
Mar-24 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 |
80% | 10% | 10% | 0% | 100% | |
Apr-24 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 14 |
71% | 0% | 21% | 7% | 100% | |
May-24 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 26 |
42% | 31% | 27% | 0% | 100% | |
Jun-24 | 15 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 22 |
68% | 9% | 14% | 9% | 100% | |
Total | 147 | 27 | 50 | 10 | 234 |
63% | 12% | 21% | 4% | 100% |
1. ‘Other’ includes matters where the accused is mentally unfit to stand trial or found to be mentally incompetent.
Table 6.4. Outcomes of prosecution files resolved during the trial stage1
| Guilty plea (all/some/ lesser) | Not guilty verdict | Guilty verdict (all/some /lesser) | Nolle Prosequi | Other2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jul-23 | 23 | 7 | 14 | 9 | 0 | 53 |
43% | 13% | 26% | 25% | 0% | 100% | |
Aug-23 | 29 | 14 | 7 | 14 | 1 | 65 |
45% | 22% | 11% | 22% | 2% | 100% | |
Sep-23 | 25 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 0 | 59 |
42% | 22% | 15% | 20% | 0% | 100% | |
Oct-23 | 15 | 12 | 18 | 5 | 0 | 50 |
30% | 24% | 36% | 10% | 0% | 100% | |
Nov-23 | 29 | 5 | 13 | 12 | 0 | 59 |
49% | 8% | 22% | 20% | 0% | 100% | |
Dec-23 | 24 | 9 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 48 |
50% | 19% | 21% | 8% | 2% | 100% | |
Jan-24 | 25 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 35 |
71% | 0% | 11% | 17% | 0% | 100% | |
Feb-24 | 28 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 49 |
57% | 16% | 10% | 16% | 0% | 100% | |
Mar-24 | 17 | 3 | 14 | 8 | 0 | 42 |
40% | 7% | 33% | 19% | 0% | 100% | |
Apr-24 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 1 | 42 |
24% | 26% | 24% | 24% | 2% | 100% | |
May-24 | 13 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 32 |
41% | 25% | 22% | 9% | 3% | 100% | |
Jun-24 | 31 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 54 |
57% | 9% | 17% | 13% | 4% | 100% | |
Total | 269 | 95 | 120 | 98 | 6 | 588 |
46% | 16% | 20% | 17% | 1% | 100% |
1. The trial stage commences 1 week prior to the date on which the trial was listed to commence and continues up until the closure of the file (not including any appeal). The proportion of guilty pleas and verdicts within this table correspond only to the number of files that were finalised during the trial stage concluding in the report month and are not representative of the overall conviction rate which includes pleas arising from the post-committal pre-trial stage. For conviction rates please refer to section 5.
2. ‘Other’ includes matters where the accused is mentally unfit to stand trial or found to be mentally incompetent.
Data from previous years is available at: https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset