Drugs: Trials

(asked on 6th February 2023) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) ineffective, (b) cracked and (c) vacated trials there were for the (i) production, (ii) supply and (iii) possession with intent to supply of class A drugs in each quarter between 1 October 2021 and 30 September 2022.


Answered by
Mike Freer Portrait
Mike Freer
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This question was answered on 21st February 2023

Data on the ineffective, cracked and vacated trials in the Crown Court, England and Wales, can be found attached (table 1 for the production of class A drugs offences, table 2 for supply of class A drugs offences, and table 3 for possession with intent to supply class A drugs offences). Notes and caveats about the data can be found on the attached data tables.

There are a number of reasons why a trial may be ineffective, including witness absence, insufficient juror availability and the defence not being ready.

Volumes for all types are seen to largely trend upwards after Q2 2020, with increases likely a result of covid impacts.

Reticulating Splines