314 (2024). Hon Dr Duncan Webb to the Minister of Justice

314 (2024). Hon Dr Duncan Webb to the Minister of Justice: How is lateness of guilty plea measured in the criminal courts as referred to on p 21 of the Briefing to the Incoming Minister and in particular is it measured by time since charged, time before trial or some other way?

Hon Paul Goldsmith: I am advised that the lateness of guilty plea measure is based on the proportion of criminal cases at which guilt is established on all charges by guilty plea by criminal process stage. The measure covers all Category 3 cases disposed by guilty plea in the District Court in each time period. It calculates the proportion of these cases where a guilty plea is entered in the admin stage, the review stage, or at the trial stage. A ‘later’ guilty plea is defined as being entered after the admin stage which is the first opportunity to enter a plea. The statement that more defendants are pleading guilty later is based on the fact that comparing cases disposed with a guilty plea in 2015 and in 2022, there has been an increase in the proportion of guilty pleas entered at the review stage and at the trial stage, with a lower proportion of defendants pleading guilty at the admin stage.