Ministry of Justice · Criminal court statistics quarterly: Crown Court waiting times · 3 values
Crown Court median waiting time for trial by plea
The median weeks defendants sent for trial waited before their trial started, split by how the case resolved — guilty plea, not guilty (a contested trial), dropped, or other. Contested trials wait far longer than cases that end in a guilty plea.
latest 12 months to 2026 Q1; 4 quarters summed · total 317 weeks · published 25 June 2026
Not guilty is the largest plea at 59% of the total.
| Plea | Latest 12 months | Share | Previous 12 months | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not guilty | 187 | 59.1% | 177 | ▲ 6.1% |
| Dropped | 85 | 26.8% | 82 | ▲ 3.3% |
| Guilty | 45 | 14.1% | 43 | ▲ 4.7% |
Source
- Dataset
- Criminal court statistics quarterly: Crown Court waiting times · sheet Table_C7
- Rows
- 2026 Q1; values are the sum of the published rows for each plea and period.
- Caveat
- The plea entered at the start (the split is by final outcome), or waits for cases still open.
- Parent metric
- Crown Court median waiting time for trial
- API
- /api/metrics/crown_court_trial_waiting_by_plea/vintages