Criminal cases before district courts rise 10%

THE number of criminal cases coming before the country’s district courts rose by 10% last year, according to new figures provided by the Courts Service.

Almost 330,000 criminal prosecutions were dealt with summarily by district court judges in 2006, compared with about over 302,000 the previous year. The number of more serious crimes handled summarily by the district courts soared by 17% over the same period.

Such indictable cases, which can be sent forward for trial before a judge and jury at circuit court level due to their seriousness, increased from 41,374 in 2005 to 48,272 in 2006.