Civometry

Ministry of Justice · plea: Not guilty

Crown Court median waiting time for trial: Not guilty

4 periods to 2026 Q1

187 weeks

Crown Court median waiting time for trial for Not guilty totalled 187 weeks in the 4 periods to 2026 Q1, up 6.1% (11) on the 4 periods before.

  1. Ministry of Justice dataset
  2. Table_C7
  3. 2026 Q1
  4. column “Not guilty: Median [note 25]”
  5. 48 per period
  6. published 25 June 2026

2016 Q1 to 2026 Q1

Crown Court median waiting time for trial by plea: 2016 Q1 to 2026 Q1ConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeLabourLabour020402016201820202022202420262016 Q1: 31 weeks · published 25 June 20262016 Q2: 31 weeks · published 25 June 20262016 Q3: 31 weeks · published 25 June 20262016 Q4: 31 weeks · published 25 June 20262017 Q1: 29 weeks · published 25 June 20262017 Q2: 28 weeks · published 25 June 20262017 Q3: 28 weeks · published 25 June 20262017 Q4: 27 weeks · published 25 June 20262018 Q1: 27 weeks · published 25 June 20262018 Q2: 28 weeks · published 25 June 20262018 Q3: 28 weeks · published 25 June 20262018 Q4: 28 weeks · published 25 June 20262019 Q1: 27 weeks · published 25 June 20262019 Q2: 27 weeks · published 25 June 20262019 Q3: 26 weeks · published 25 June 20262019 Q4: 27 weeks · published 25 June 20262020 Q1: 29 weeks · published 25 June 20262020 Q2: 27 weeks · published 25 June 20262020 Q3: 32 weeks · published 25 June 20262020 Q4: 38 weeks · published 25 June 20262021 Q1: 40 weeks · published 25 June 20262021 Q2: 43 weeks · published 25 June 20262021 Q3: 45 weeks · published 25 June 20262021 Q4: 47 weeks · published 25 June 20262022 Q1: 45 weeks · published 25 June 20262022 Q2: 47 weeks · published 25 June 20262022 Q3: 47 weeks · published 25 June 20262022 Q4: 46 weeks · published 25 June 20262023 Q1: 46 weeks · published 25 June 20262023 Q2: 49 weeks · published 25 June 20262023 Q3: 47 weeks · published 25 June 20262023 Q4: 46 weeks · published 25 June 20262024 Q1: 46 weeks · published 25 June 20262024 Q2: 47 weeks · published 25 June 20262024 Q3: 44 weeks · published 25 June 20262024 Q4: 45 weeks · published 25 June 20262025 Q1: 41 weeks · published 25 June 20262025 Q2: 45 weeks · published 25 June 20262025 Q3: 46 weeks · published 25 June 20262025 Q4: 49 weeks · published 25 June 20262026 Q1: 48 weeks · published 25 June 2026
Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover, tap or use arrow keys to read a value; tap again to unpin
The chart as a table
PeriodCrown Court median waiting time for trial by plea
2016 Q131 weeks
2016 Q231 weeks
2016 Q331 weeks
2016 Q431 weeks
2017 Q129 weeks
2017 Q228 weeks
2017 Q328 weeks
2017 Q427 weeks
2018 Q127 weeks
2018 Q228 weeks
2018 Q328 weeks
2018 Q428 weeks
2019 Q127 weeks
2019 Q227 weeks
2019 Q326 weeks
2019 Q427 weeks
2020 Q129 weeks
2020 Q227 weeks
2020 Q332 weeks
2020 Q438 weeks
2021 Q140 weeks
2021 Q243 weeks
2021 Q345 weeks
2021 Q447 weeks
2022 Q145 weeks
2022 Q247 weeks
2022 Q347 weeks
2022 Q446 weeks
2023 Q146 weeks
2023 Q249 weeks
2023 Q347 weeks
2023 Q446 weeks
2024 Q146 weeks
2024 Q247 weeks
2024 Q344 weeks
2024 Q445 weeks
2025 Q141 weeks
2025 Q245 weeks
2025 Q346 weeks
2025 Q449 weeks
2026 Q148 weeks

What this measures

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.

The plea entered at the start (the split is by final outcome), or waits for cases still open.

Source

Dataset
Criminal court statistics quarterly: Crown Court waiting times
Release
January to March 2026, published 25 June 2026 · sha256 b6823b9b68923d70…
All values
Crown Court median waiting time for trial by plea