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<p>HMCTS can only answer this question for trials in the Crown Court. The case management
database for magistrates' courts does not hold the date of conviction in a way we
can calculate the time from conviction to sentence for all defendants so the only
way we could answer the question would be to manually check each case file which would
incur disproportionate costs.</p><p>The Crown Court database does and Table 1 below
shows the average length between the latest conviction date in a trial and the date
of sentence. The trend has seen the time between conviction and sentence falling from
an average of 35.8 calendar days in 2007-08 to 24.6 calendar days in the first half
of 2013-14. When a trial has more than one offence the jury may not reach verdicts
against all on the same day, and the sentence cannot take place until all offences
have a verdict.</p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><p>Table 1 -Average length between
conviction and sentence in Crown Court centres in England for defendants sentenced
between April and September 2013</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Period</p></td><td><p>Average</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>April
to September 2013</p></td><td><p>24.6 calendar days</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012-13</p></td><td><p>28.2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011-12</p></td><td><p>28.2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010-11</p></td><td><p>30.2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009-10</p></td><td><p>32.8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2008-09</p></td><td><p>34.4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2007-08</p></td><td><p>35.8</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Notes:</p><ol
type="1"><li>The average number of calendar days between the latest jury conviction
date and the earliest substantial sentence date.</li><li>Includes cases where the
defendant changes their plea to guilty during the trial.</li><li>This is internal
management information run specifically to answer this question.</li></ol><p> </p><p>The
judiciary are able to sentence following conviction without the need for additional
hearings as a result of initiatives currently in place. The judicially lead early
guilty plea scheme aims to have guilty plea cases concluded at a single hearing. Similarly
the probation service are able to provide reports on the day of conviction to facilitate
the sentencing of the defendant.</p>
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