The right to trial by jury is protected in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Jury trials are reserved for more serious crimes, and a defendant has the right to elect a jury trial when he or she is charged with an offence punishable by a maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment or more. In a jury trial, 12 members of the community rather than a judge decide whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty. The jury trial caseload is made up almost entirely of cases brought under the Criminal Procedure Act 2011.

Jury trial statistics are recorded by number of cases rather than people because each case may involve several charges or people. The figures do not capture the underlying complexity and time taken to deal with jury trials.

The increase in serious offending now before the courts (Category 3 charges) has subsequently increased the complexity and time taken to deal with jury trials.

Statistics by Court location

The following table shows the number of cases by location. A new jury trial case is when a case enters the trial stage. It is counted as a disposal only when all charges within the case reach a final outcome. Since July 2013 transfers between courts have been included in the count. Therefore, the “Cases In” category covers both new jury trial cases and transfers in to a court from another court, while “Cases Out” includes disposals and transfers out from another court.

Definitions:

• "Cases In" is the total number of:
  
  • new trial cases where a jury trial has been elected and is ready for call over (if required) and the case review process completed;
  • those residual cases committed for trial (under the pre-CPA process);
  • cases where a retrial has been directed;
  • severed cases;
  • and other cases transferred into the court.

• It excludes cases reactivated in the court due to the execution or withdrawal of a warrant to arrest. 

• "Cases Out" is the number of:
  
  • disposed cases where sentencing or other final outcomes are established on all charges;
  • cases where all the charges are joined into another case;
  • and cases transferred out of the court.

• This includes cases where the defendant was convicted and sentenced or discharged; or the case dismissed, withdrawn or stayed.
• It excludes cases put on hold due to the issuing of a warrant to arrest the defendant.

• Active cases are those which are awaiting trial, sentencing or other final outcome, and are not on hold due to the issuing of a warrant to arrest the defendant.

• This includes where the case is in the review process, or the case is awaiting a pre-trial decision.

Jury Trial statistics for the 2018-2019 fiscal year (ending 30 June 2019) as a spreadsheet:

Jury Trial Statistics 2018-2019 [XLSX, 16 KB]