DPP gets desired verdict in nearly all cases taken

Most cases taken by the Director of Public Prosecutions end in conviction of at least one of the defendants, according to the…

Most cases taken by the Director of Public Prosecutions end in conviction of at least one of the defendants, according to the statistics in the DPP's annual report, released yesterday.

These show that in 1999, the last year that shows the outcome of the files received, only 3 per cent of the cases brought ended in acquittal, while 69 per cent resulted in convictions.

Some 26 per cent were still awaiting a hearing, and 2 per cent ended with another outcome, like the DPP withdrawing the prosecution.

In the guidelines for prosecutors published by the DPP's office last month, the general reasons for not pursuing a prosecution were outlined.

READ MORE

The main reason was the likelihood of not securing a conviction with the evidence available.

The statistics show that almost a third of the files sent to the DPP's office by the Garda end in no prosecution being pursued.

In 1999 the number was 28 per cent, and in 2000 29 per cent.

However, of those that did go to trial, these statistics show that the overwhelming majority of those heard ended in conviction.

Of the cases sent forward for prosecution, 30 and 34 per cent respectively went to the Circuit, Central Criminal Courts where they were heard by judge and jury, or to the Special Criminal Court, where they were heard by a panel of three judges.

A similar proportion, 34 per cent in 1999 and 32 per cent in 2000, were dealt with summarily (without a jury) in the district courts.

The number of files received by the Director of Public Prosecutions has tripled since 1976, two years after the office was set up, according to the annual report for 2000.

In 1976, the total number of files was 2,298, while last year it was 7,815.

However, there was a dip between 1983 and 1993, when the figures started to rise again.

About half the files related to Dublin, with the remainder distributed roughly in accordance with population.

The cost of running the prosecution service is almost £20 million annually.

The running of the office itself costs just over £10 million, while fees to counsel were almost £8 million (£7,890,000) in 2000.

This is a slight drop on the 1999 total, when the figure was £8,113,000.

For the Circuit Criminal Court, the bulk of the fees were paid in Dublin, where counsel on the DPP's panel received £2,382,000 last year.

The report also shows the outcome of appeals against leniency of sentence, which only became possible in recent years.

Of the 31 such appeals taken last year, 11 were successful, one was refused, 17 were pending and two were described as "other".

This compares with 17 successful appeals in 1999, and 14 refusals.