6 August 2012

303 days of court time cut down to 51 during the "blitz"

| johnboy
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Simon Corbell has announced a successful conclusion to the “court blitz”:

During the 12 week blitz period 99 criminal matters were listed for hearing, and 90 have been dealt with.

50 defendants had changed their pleas and the Director of Public Prosecutions has declined to proceed in 13, meaning that a total of 63 of the 99 matters, or 73% were resolved without a hearing. 27 matters were heard and one 2 of which will be finalised over the next week.

7 criminal judgments have been reserved during the blitz, all of which have now been delivered.

“Of the criminal matters heard, ordinarily the estimated time required for these matters would be 303 days of court time. They in fact took 51 days of court time during the blitz,” Mr Corbell said.

“Of the 115 civil matters listed for the blitz period, all have been dealt with, 85 matters have settled at a settlement rate of 74%.

“The estimated court days scheduled to hear the civil matters was 395 and as a result of the blitz, only 86 days were used,” Mr Corbell said.

Here in The Eagle’s Nest we will certainly miss the lurid judgments of Justice Neild and can only hope he is commissioned by Simon to review the performance of the ACT Supreme Court.

Being firm believers in swift justice we can only hope the court does not lapse back into The torpid languor of one hand washes the drowsy procrastination of the other

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smartone said :

That is impressive.

Do they give the stats for the total number of charges?
The total number of guilty pleas?
The total number of not guilty?
The total number of charges dropped?

The success if not so much the blitz, more whatever it was that made those 50 people change their pleas. What was it?

Extremely generous plea bargains. Eg You know that old lady you beat up and robbed? Will you plead guilty if we call it a common assault and you get a $50 fine?

The ‘blitz’ was great for offenders and a slap in the face for victims.

That is impressive.

Do they give the stats for the total number of charges?
The total number of guilty pleas?
The total number of not guilty?
The total number of charges dropped?

The success if not so much the blitz, more whatever it was that made those 50 people change their pleas. What was it?

HenryBG said :

VYBerlinaV8_is_back said :

So why don’t they work like this all the time?

You get a cup of public service mentality, add 2 cups of lawyerliness, add a dash of Canberra club and a few white wigs, lay it out on the bench for a couple of weeks and hey! Presto! you get a torpid languor cake.

Eh. No.

Because for the months that the blitz has been running, many in the courts, DPP, defence and civil lawyers have been working to a much heavier workload resulting in considerably longer hours for many, the need for less experienced people to take on higher duties, and generally a stressful work environment for months on end.

HenryBG perhaps think twice before making comments like this. If your industry was thrown in to overdrive for several months with next to no let-up, you’d realise how much everyone has to work their asses off to make it happen. Not just lawyers in wigs. Everyone.

VYBerlinaV8_is_back said :

So why don’t they work like this all the time?

You get a cup of public service mentality, add 2 cups of lawyerliness, add a dash of Canberra club and a few white wigs, lay it out on the bench for a couple of weeks and hey! Presto! you get a torpid languor cake.

VYBerlinaV8_is_back11:58 am 06 Aug 12

So why don’t they work like this all the time?

Funny how this happens now

It would of taken years to get a compo claim against the ACT Government – but after the law changes, years after – comes the blitz.

Simon must think people are all stupid

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