Supreme Court

Statistics

Note: Statistics current as at 8 October 2009.

• General Division - Civil
• General Division - Probate
• General Division - Criminal
• Court of Appeal - Civil
• Court of Appeal - Criminal
• Civil Property Possession Applications
• Explanation of Indicators

General Division

Court of Appeal

Civil Property Possession Applications

Note: As a result of a recent data clean-up, these figures vary from previous published statistics.

The statistics on Civil Property Possession Applications consist of any proceeding commenced in the Supreme Court where the plaintiff is seeking the possession of property. The majority of these matters relate to a mortgagee claiming delivery of possession and/or the payment of money secured by a mortgage. The Supreme Court is unable to provide any further information relating to claims for possession of property or mortgage defaults.

Any request for statistical information must be made by formal application to the Principal Registrar of the Supreme Court and is subject to the fees set out in the Supreme Court (Fees) Regulations 2002.

Explanation of Indicators

Case outcome statistics (i.e. guilty, non guilty) are available for Supreme Court criminal cases through the Australian Bureau of Statistics Publication (Higher Criminal Courts 4513.0) ABS - Crime and Justice - Criminal Courts. Contact the Australian Bureau of Statistics on 1300 135 070 for further information.

Generic Definitions

• Case: In the criminal jurisdiction the unit of measurement is the number of accused. A case is described as one accused with one or more charges with the same lodgement date. In the civil jurisdiction a case is a cause or matter encompassed by a distinct file uniquely numbered.
• Trial: For Criminal cases the definition of a trial is "where counts on an indictment are determined by Judge and Jury or by Judge alone by way of evidentiary hearing in open court". A trial before the Court of Appeal means "the final hearing of the matter before the full bench of the Court of Appeal, both Civil and Criminal".
  For Civil cases the definition of a trial is "the determination of a cause of action by a Judge or by Judge and jury by way of evidentiary hearing in open Court".
• Lodgement: The date upon which originating documentation is first lodged with the Court.
• Finalisation: The date the case is finally determined. There are numerous methods by which a case may be finalised including, sentence handed down, withdrawal of the case, settlement of the case, delivery of the judgment by the court.
• Cases on Hand: This is a count of all cases on hand at the end of the reporting period, which have not been finalised.
• Time Standard: For Civil cases the established time standard for completion of a case is 78 weeks from lodgement to finalisation. For Criminal cases the established time standard for completion of a case is 32 weeks from lodgement to finalisation. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia determines these time standards.

Percentage of cases finalised within time standards

This indicator relates to the percentage of cases finalised within time frames set by the court, in consultation with key stakeholders. It is a key indicator because it demonstrates that the systems, procedures and resources are in place to:

• provide the community with what are considered to be reasonable and acceptable standards by which the performance of the court can be measured. This provides an indication of the communities access to the court; and
• provide an indication of the expeditious and timely finalisation of a case.

This is achieved within a legal framework that advances matters to finalisation in accordance with established laws and procedures that are based on equality, fairness and integrity.

This indicator is calculated by comparing the period taken from lodgement of a case to its finalisation (that is, the elapsed period) against the time standard set by the court. The result is expressed as a percentage of the total cases finalised for the year.

Age of Cases on Hand

This indicator relates to the age of cases still to be finalised at year end, in particular these that have not been finalised within the time frames set by the court. It is a key indicator because it provides the community with an indication of the court's:

• capacity to provide the community with access to the court: and
• capacity to deal with its case workload, within its time standards.

There are numerous factors that have a bearing on a matter being finalised within the standards, not all being within the control of the court. The fact that parties to cases are in dispute suggests that, while one party may want the matter finalised at the earliest possible time, the other may not. Extensions of time are granted to parties for good reason and subsequently the standards can not always be met.

This measure is calculated by counting the number of matters still to be finalised (on hand) that have met or exceeded the time frames for finalisation set by the court.

Time to Trial

Time to trial is a good indicator of the time needed for the court and associated services to satisfy the complex issues leading to a trial. The proportion of matters involved increases with seriousness and complexity.

This measure is calculated by taking the median time from the date of committal (criminal) or from the date of lodgement (civil) to the first trial date.

In the General Division - Civil, only matters started by an originating process (CIV Register) are deemed "triable".

Single Judge Appeals (SJAs) have been excised from the civil time to trial calculations as at September 2008 and placed in a separate row. SJAs are matters appealed from the Magistrates Court criminal jurisdiction and heard by a single Supreme Court Judge. SJAs generally are much quicker to resolve than other matters in the Supreme Court Civil jurisdiction.

Including the SJAs in the calculation distorts the results for the Supreme Court general division. For example, the time to trial for Supreme Court Civil jurisdiction matters in 2007-08 when SJAs and civil matters are combined is 21.5 weeks, without the SJAs, the civil time to trial figure is 73 weeks. The latter figure more accurately reflects the situation.

Time to Finalisation

This measure is calculated by taking the median time from the date of committal (criminal) or from the date of lodgement (civil) to the date of finalisation, excluding matters finalised by trial (CIV Register).