37.74%.
That’s the average acquittal rate nationally from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023.
To put it another way, 62.25% of people charged with drink driving in courts across Ireland between 2020-2023 were convicted.
37.74% were not.
The average conviction rate nationally from 1 January this year to 31 May is 56.30%.
These figures are based on information provided to me by the Courts Service under the Freedom of Information Act 2014.
They cover 34 different courts from Letterkenny in the North, Tralee in the South, Ballina in the West to Wexford in the South-East.
"Statistically, you have a much
greater chance of being acquitted
in Dublin than most other places in the country".
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Sometimes a case is struck out by a Judge.
Sometimes they dismiss it.
On other occasions the State decide to withdraw the case themselves.
Unfortunately, the Courts Service do not record reasons why a case was struck out, dismissed or withdrawn. They do not hold records containing this information.
So, while we can tell what percentage of cases result in acquittals, we do not know why.
We cannot tell what percentage of the 37.74% of cases which resulted in acquittals were struck out, dismissed or withdrawn.
Why?
The Courts Service indicated that this has something to do with how court cases are recorded by the prosecutor after the case has finished.
The Courts Service can only work with the material that they are provided with by prosecutors. If this material is not strictly accurate it makes it harder for them to accurately reflect the outcome of cases.
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DUBLIN IS EXCEPTIONAL because it is the capital but also because the volume of it’s court cases dwarfs the rest of the country.
But it’s also different in one other way too: the rate of conviction.
It’s numbers ‘buck’ the national trend by some distance.
Dublin’s average conviction rate from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023 is 53.59%.
That’s almost 10% below the national average.
Its average acquittal rate during that period is 46.40%, considerably higher than the national average of 37.74%.
Statistically, you have a much greater chance of being acquitted in Dublin than most places in the country.
But not every place.
THE LOWEST CONVICTION rate in the country?
Without naming names, this goes to a court in the East of the country.
During the four years from the beginning of 2020 to end of 2023, that court recorded an average conviction rate of 35.51%.
The acquittal rate was 64.49%.
"Across136 data points from 2020 to 2023
only one court in the country recorded
a 100% conviction rate in a calendar year".
These numbers are almost directly opposite to the conviction (62.25%) and acquittal (37.74%) rates nationally over the same period.
Judges are not all the same.
A legal argument that may persuade one judge may not persuade another.
Shouldn't we have more consistency?
Maybe, but judges are not robots.
Robots don't understand 'nuance' or context.
Their decisions are coldly analytical.
Some people may prefer that.
I don't.
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AND THE HIGHEST conviction rates?
A few courts across the country had an average conviction rate of 70-75%.
Some even higher.
But none had an average conviction rate of 100%.
Except one.
Across the 136 data points from 2020 to 2023 only one court in the country recorded a 100% conviction rate in a calendar year.
In 2023 exactly 100% of all drink driving cases in that court resulted in convictions.
Which court?
I don’t want to name names but if you’re driving between Cork and Waterford, be extra careful…
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