Lower crime but more court cases

Masterton District Court had 132 more new cases and 44 more active cases than in the previous financial year.

The number of criminal cases in the Masterton District Court has risen markedly, new figures show.

The District Court had 132 more new cases and 44 more active cases than in the previous financial year, according to information obtained from Courts of New Zealand.

Masterton-based Senior Sergeant Mike Sutton said reported crime had decreased by 3 per cent during the most recent time frame so police would have expected a reduction in court cases as well.

"This may only be a slight increase this year on the back of decreasing numbers prior to 2013," he said.

"It is also possible we have seen an increase in prosecutions as a result of specialist teams in certain areas, such as our Tactical Crime Unit having good successes prosecuting higher end criminal offending such as burglary and fraud. You often get one offender charged with multiple offences which these figures may be reflecting."

Mr Sutton expected police to have a greater focus on using alternative resolution strategies, such as giving out more pre-charge warnings.

Nationally, District Courts had fewer new, ongoing and disposed criminal and civil cases than in the previous year.

Fewer new criminal cases nationwide could be attributed to the police's greater use of pre-charge warnings that aimed to divert lower end offences away from prosecution and court proceedings, the Courts New Zealand report said.

The number of District Court jury trials was also down, while the number of cases held in the Youth Court fell to an historical low.

New and active applications in the Family Court increased slightly but the number of disposals or settlements decreased.

Court of Appeal and High Court cases were down, while the number of cases the Supreme Court heard was up.

Statistics New Zealand data showed conviction rates for the year ending June 30 were the lowest in the 34 years statistics had been available.

Acting general manager of the justice sector Dean Rutherford said the police, Ministry of Justice and Department of Corrections were working together and with other agencies to reduce crime and offending.

Crime rates in New Zealand, like many Western nations, had been dropping for many years and this had put the number of people charged in New Zealand courts at the lowest level since the statistics began in 1980/81, he said.

The sector's Better Public Service targets, which were based on June 2011 crime levels, aimed for a 15 per cent reduction in total crime, and a 25 per cent reduction in youth crime by 2017.

At the end of March this year, the total crime rate was down by 16 per cent, and Youth Court appearances were down 30 per cent, Mr Rutherford said.

The number of cases before the courts was expected to continue to decline, he said.

NZME.