national prosecution services report to select committee on security and constitutional affairs

National Prosecution Services National Prosecution Services Report to Report to

Select Committee on Security Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Affairsand Constitutional Affairs

21 May 200821 May 2008

2

Report comprises:Report comprises:

1. Mission Statement

2. Case Overview

3. Application of CFM Principles

4. Service Delivery: Objectives / Indicators

5. Projects and Initiatives

6. Annual Plan NPS 2008/2009

7. The Way Forward

3

Our mission is to:Our mission is to: Prosecute criminal cases, efficiently and effectively

Contribute to better crime investigations

Contribute to crime prevention and community justice

Ensure joint problem-solving and co-operation with

partners and stakeholders

1. Mission Statement1. Mission Statement

4

2.1 High Courts

2.2 Regional Courts

2.3 District Courts

2.4 Monitoring Mechanisms:

2.4.1 Withdrawal Rate Audit

2.4.2 Annual Audit on Outstanding Cases

2. Case Overview2. Case Overview

5

2.1 High Courts2.1 High Courts

Output: Prosecution of criminal cases

Indicator:New CasesTrials FinalisedMinimum SentencesOutstanding

Actual: High Court Performance

New Cases

Trials Finalised

Minimum Sentences

Outstanding

6

2.22.2 Regional CourtsRegional Courts


Indicator:New CasesTrials FinalisedADR’sRemoved from RollOutstanding

Actual: Regional Court Performance

New Cases

Trials Finalised

ADR's

Removed from Roll

Outstanding

7


Indicator:New CasesTrials FinalisedADR’sRemoved from RollOutstanding

Actual: District Court Performance

New Cases

Trials Finalised

ADR's

Removed from Roll

Outstanding

2.32.3 District CourtsDistrict Courts

8

• The NPA has fully embraced court and case flow management (CFM) practices and principles and is constantly engaging with the other role players.

• One of the contributing factors to the high number of backlog cases is the low finalization rate of cases.

– The financial impact of multiple postponements of cases, incarceration of awaiting trial prisoners and loss of court days could be minimized by improving the production of the courts.

• The NPA is determined to play an active role in the improvement of the finalization rate managed by the courts, although we are mindful that the judiciary should play the leading role.

• Court Performance, Progress and Problems must be monitored, evaluated and if necessary reported on.

– The NPS has introduced a new template to monitor the implementation of CFM in the courts on a monthly basis.

• Meetings between all key role players are absolutely essential on a regular basis, under the auspices of the Judiciary.

3.3. Application of CFM Principles

9

• Increased use of Alternative Dispute Resolution methods (ADR/M) and Plea and Sentence agreements to reduce trial cases;

• Appointment of 118 Court Preparation Officers which aims to enhance customer satisfaction by empowering witnesses to testify in a credible manner

• Project Clean-up aimed to improve screening and proper preparation of cases

• The National Backlog Project contributed to reduction of backlog cases

3.13.1 Initiatives to improve CFM

10

Vosloorus: Vosloorus: Regional court

Ave Hours:Ave Hours: 5h00

Finalised:Finalised:40 cases 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Backlogcases

Cases notolder 9m

3.2 Effective CFM:3.2 Effective CFM:

11

Oberholzer: Oberholzer: Regional court



20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

Backlogcases

Cases notolder 9m


12

Esikhawini: Esikhawini: District court



100

200

300

400

500

600

Backlogcases

Cases notolder 9m


13

Indicator:

Cases Withdrawn and reasons for such withdrawals

Actual:

Marginal reduction (0.04%)

Monitoring Tool

Audit on cases withdrawn conducted to determine the main reasons for withdrawals and identify areas in need of intervention

0 1000 2000 3000 4000

Compl. Request

No prima facie case

Witness/es absent

Investigation incomplete

Witnesses not traced

Docket not at court

Blood Alcohol Analysis O/S

SPP / DPP decision O/S

Subpoena not properly served

Compassionate Reasons

D/c R/c

3.33.3 Monitoring Monitoring Mechanisms: Mechanisms:

Withdrawal Rate AuditWithdrawal Rate Audit

14

Indicator:Reasons for cases withdrawn

Actual: Main Offences of cases withdrawn

Monitoring ToolIndicate the offences where Restorative Justice approach can be used more effectively

Lower Courts

0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

Assault common

Assault GBH

Other Theft

MItP

H/breaking

Robbery

Domestic Violence

Maintenance

Public Violence

Crimen Inuiria

Monitoring Mechanisms: Monitoring Mechanisms: Withdrawal Rate Audit cntdWithdrawal Rate Audit cntd

15

3.43.4 Monitoring Mechanisms: Monitoring Mechanisms: Annual AuditAnnual Audit on Outstanding on Outstanding

cases in RC and HCcases in RC and HC

Number of: 2004 2005 2006 2007

Cases42 159 43 918 43 112 42 145

Counts87 684 140 210 112 114 160 727

Accused62 804 66 519 65 840 65 717

Acc. in custody 23 954 23 084 20 301 20 590

16

3.43.4 Monitoring Mechanisms: Monitoring Mechanisms: Annual AuditAnnual Audit - N - National Prevalence Rate of Crime: Excl SCCU

Cases: 41 095

Counts: 82 269

Miscellaneous, 0.3%

Narcotics, 0.3%

Arms & Ammo, 6.2%

Not Indicated, 0.7%

Sexual, 20.6%Economic,

34.9% Violent, 37.0%

Accused: 64 070

Acc in Custody: 20378 / 31.8%

Acc younger 18y: 857 / 4.2%

17

3.43.4 Monitoring Mechanisms: Monitoring Mechanisms: Annual AuditAnnual Audit - Main Reasons for - Main Reasons for

Postponements: 2007Postponements: 2007

24.0%

8.9%

8.5%

8.2%

7.7%

7.4%

4.8%

4.2%

3.8%

3.0%

2.3%

2.3%

2.1%

1.7%

1.0%

Trial / Plea

Absent/ Unavailable: Accused

Request of Defense/ Legal Aid

Part-Heard

Outstanding: Investigation

Unavailable: Legal Aid Public Defender

Unavailable: Discovery

Unavailable: Attorney Advocate (Private).

Bail Applications

Transfer to Regional Crt

Unavailable: Docket

Unavailable: Presiding Officer

Unavailable: Complainant/ Witnesses

Consultation

Mental Observation

18

Indicators:Indicators: 4.1 Conviction Rate4.2 Finalised Cases4.3 ADR: Diversion4.4 Average Court Hours4.5 Lead Time of Cases4.5.1 National Backlog Project 4.5.2 Annual Audit on Outstanding cases

4. Service Delivery 4. Service Delivery Objectives / Indicators Objectives / Indicators

19


Indicator:Conviction RateConviction Rate

Target:High Court (H/c): 85%

Regional Court (R/c): 70%

District Court (D/c): 85%

Actual: High Court: 91%

Regional Court: 73%

District Court: 88%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

H/c R/c D/c

'06/'07

'07/'08

Target

4.1 Service Delivery 4.1 Service Delivery Objectives / IndicatorsObjectives / Indicators

20

Highlights:Highlights: Community Courts achieved conviction

rate of 97%

Convicted cases referred for sentence to High Courts i.t.o Sect 52 - 90% confirmedGive emphasis to the effectiveness of

Regional Courts

21

Output: Prosecution of criminal casesIndicator:Finalised Cases (verdict)Finalised Cases (verdict)Target: + 5%High Court (H/c): 2 407Regional Court (R/c): 36 834District Court (D/c): 295 329Actual: High Court: 2 122(11.8% decline)

Regional Court: 34 922(5.2% decline)

District Court: 259 571 (12.1% decline)

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

H/c

'06/'07

'07/'08

Target


0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

350000

R/c D/c

'06/'07

'07/'08

Target

22

Highlights:Highlights: Focussed approach on Alternative Dispute Resolution methods

National Backlog project contributed to reduction of backlog cases in the Regional courts

ConstraintsConstraints Various role-players impact on effective Case Flow Management process

• Electricity load shedding has major implications for all courts and will increase number of outstanding cases and backlog cases

• Labour actions during June 2007 impacted negatively on productivity of all courts– Finalization rate reduced with 25.9% in District Courts and 37.5% in Regional

courts

• The high number of warrants issued per month is one of the main causes for the long cycle times of cases.

Vacancy rate impacts negatively on overall performance

23

Regional Courts: Impact of Labour Action + Load Shedding on Finalization Rate

1000

2000

3000

4000

APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR

FIN 06/ '07FIN 07/ 08

24



Indicator:ADR - Diversions; Mediation; ADR - Diversions; Mediation; Admission of Guilt (Sec 57A)Admission of Guilt (Sec 57A)

Target:All Courts: 10% increase

Actual: All Courts: 4.5% increase in diverted cases excl. Mediation, AG

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

45000

50000

All Courts

'06/'07

'07/'08

Target

25

Highlights:Highlights:• ADR has proven to be a successful alternative

method to reduce trial cases.

• In addition to the total number of cases diverted, the Lower Courts have also managed to resolve 15 393 cases by means of informal mediation and in a total of 30 115 cases admission of guilt were paid

• Plea and Sentence agreements increased from 1139 in 06/07 to 1252 in 07/08

26



Indicator:Average Court HoursAverage Court Hours

Target:High Court (H/c): 4h00Regional Court (R/c): 4h30District Court (D/c): 4h45

Actual: High Court: 3h16Regional Court: 3h39District Court: 3h51

00:00

00:28

00:57

01:26

01:55

02:24

02:52

03:21

03:50

04:19

04:48

H/c R/c D/c

'06/'07

'07/'08

Target

27

ConstraintsConstraints Various role-players impact on effective Case Flow Management process

• Electricity load shedding has major implications for all courts and will increase number of outstanding cases and backlog cases

• Labour actions during June 2007 impacted negatively on productivity of all courts

• The high number of warrants issued per month is the main cause for delays in the case cycle times of cases.

Vacancy rate impacts negatively on overall performance

Highlights:Highlights: A positive step was the appointment of 118 Court Preparation Officers to prepare witnesses

which saves prosecutor’s time

• Recently a successful workshop held between RC Presidents, DOJ, NPA and SAPS to improve CFM and Case Backlogs

Appointment of two PP’s per court will enhance the optimum utilization of court time

28

• The NPA is currently in the process of developing an optimum capacity model.

• On the short term, we have identified a minimum need for two (2) prosecutors per existing court, with a court being defined as a court which sat for 18 days per month over a 6 month period of time.

• A work study was therefore done at the end of 2007 with the aim of identifying where the creation of posts are mostly required. The Work study indicated 135 posts to be created most urgently in the Lower Courts (a total of 600 posts are required to attain the target of 2 prosecutors per court).

• At the end of November 2007, we had 1,2 prosecutors per district and 1,34 prosecutors per Regional Court. We have therefore not yet attained our target of 2 prosecutors per court in spite of having created 310 lower and high court prosecutors/advocate posts in 2007

• If the vacancy rate is taken into account (of between 18% and 25%) we are even further from our target of two (2) prosecutors per court than set out supra.

• The number of courts are increasing from year to year as it rightly should, which will in future impact even further on our target of two (2) prosecutors per court.

Optimum capacity model:Optimum capacity model:

29

Regional Courts: Impact on Court Hours

02:38

02:52

03:07

03:21

03:36

03:50

04:04

04:19

APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR

06/'0707/'08

30


Output:

Prosecution of criminal cases

Indicator:

Lead Time of CasesLead Time of Cases

Target:

H/c: 75% not more than 12 m on roll

R/c: 75% not more than 9 m on roll

D/c: 90% not more than 6 m on roll

Actual:

H/c: 84% not more than 12 m on roll

R/c: 66% not more than 9 m on roll

D/c: 88% not more than 6 m on roll

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

H/c R/c D/c

'06/'07

'07/'08

Target

31

Highlights:Highlights: The National Backlog Project contributed to reduction of backlog

cases in the Regional courts

Annual audit on outstanding cases identified blockages in system. It is conducted annually at the end of November on all outstanding cases in Regional and High courts

Audit also conducted on cases withdrawn to determine the main reasons for withdrawals and identify areas in need of intervention

Project Clean-up assisted to enhance proper screening of cases

Constraints:Constraints: High number of warrants impacts negatively on the cycle times of

cases

32

Regional Courts: NPS Audit - Impact of Warrants on cycle times

CYCLE TIMES COMPARISON: WARRANT CASES

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

Month

s

DC TO RC ( NO WARRANT CASES)

DC TO RC (WARRANT CASES)

RC TO 30 NOV (NO WARRANT CASES)

RC TO 30 NOV (WARRANT CASES)

DC TO LAST RECORDED APP (NO WARRANT CASES)

DC TO LAST RECORDED APP (WARRANT CASES)

33

• The Backlog Reduction Project assisted courts where demand exceeded supply and focussed on:

• Regional court priority areas since Nov ’06 where the biggest problems are being experienced; – 27 Courts are currently in operation and a total of 4298 cases have

thus far been finalised on this project– Backlogs were reduced by 16.2% at end of March ’08 at the

Backlog sites.– Backlogs were reduced by 6.9% in all Regional courts at end of

March ’08

• Transvaal Provincial Division has been chosen as a pilot site to address long outstanding appeals since March ’07 - an additional 593 appeals were enrolled

4.5.1 National Backlog Project4.5.1 National Backlog Project

34

5.1 Community Courts:5.1 Community Courts: 12 Courts in operation 97% conviction rate achieved 18 959 cases finalised Courts with integrated approach, improving access to justice

and promote community participation

5.2 Community Prosecutions:5.2 Community Prosecutions: 9 Pilot sites established 9 Community prosecutors been appointed Report from Pilot project presented and initiative officially

launched earlier this year

5. Project / Initiatives5. Project / Initiatives

35

5.3 Organised Crime Initiative:5.3 Organised Crime Initiative: Posts for specialised prosecutors were created; Co-ordinating with SAPS Organised Crime Units in

combating organised crime; Close working relationship with AFU and STU

5.4 Specialist Tax Unit:5.4 Specialist Tax Unit: Established in 2003; 579 cases finalised with conviction rate of more than

95%; Partnership with SARS


36

5.5 Project Clean-up:5.5 Project Clean-up: Mandated prosecutors to work on Saturdays from

November 07 to March 08; Purpose to prepare cases and administrative tasks

that prevented cases from proceeding in time; Achievements: (2 376 staff members participated):

10 616 dockets screened and prepared for Court 2 832 inquest dealt with 209 plea agreements dealt with 35 315 decision dockets dealt with 453 consultation with witnesses


37

5.6 Awaiting Trial Detainees:5.6 Awaiting Trial Detainees:Data from DCS: A marginal increase of 5.9%

is noted at the end of Feb 2008 (51 049) compared to 48 196 at end of March 2007

Audit: During the audit conducted on outstanding cases in Regional Courts an increase of 1.42% was shown in the number of ATD’s although a reduction of 5.08% was shown in the number of juvenile accused.


38

NPS AUDIT: NPS AUDIT: Ratio of Accused/ DetaineesRatio of Accused/ Detainees

65717 65840 66519

20590 2308420301

1263904858

2007 2006 2005

Total Accused Detainees Juveniles

39

5.7 Restorative Justice:5.7 Restorative Justice:

– National Project

– Focussed implementation in 3 sites

– Evaluation outcomes iro 3 sites due at end of May ‘08

– General sensitisation and training of Prosecutors


40

5.8 5.8 JARP PROJECT:– Phoenix Justice and Restoration Project (Phoenix JARP) is a Phoenix Justice and Restoration Project (Phoenix JARP) is a

community based project, providing alternative methods of dealing with community based project, providing alternative methods of dealing with crime, wrong-doing and conflict, in the community, the justice system crime, wrong-doing and conflict, in the community, the justice system and courtsand courts

– Key findings of independent evaluation:Key findings of independent evaluation:• 97.4% victims were happy with the mediation process and the outcome;97.4% victims were happy with the mediation process and the outcome;• 94.2% of offenders indicated that mediation assisted them in addressing 94.2% of offenders indicated that mediation assisted them in addressing

their offending behavior;their offending behavior;• 94.6% of offenders indicated that they were satisfied with the agreement 94.6% of offenders indicated that they were satisfied with the agreement

reached during mediation, whilst 95.1% of victims said that they were reached during mediation, whilst 95.1% of victims said that they were satisfied with the agreements;satisfied with the agreements;

• 93.9% of victims felt that justice had been done from the mediation process.93.9% of victims felt that justice had been done from the mediation process.


41

5.9 OCCUPATIONAL SPECIFIC DISPENSATION (OSD):5.9 OCCUPATIONAL SPECIFIC DISPENSATION (OSD): BACKGROUND:BACKGROUND:

The Minister for the Public Service and Administration (DPSA) has put forward a proposed framework in the PSCBC for the Occupation Specific Dispensation (OSD) for Legally Qualified Categories of Employees

The proposed framework was agreed to by the majority of trade unions on 07 February 2008.

Salary determinations of prosecutors do not fall within the ambit of the above agreement since section 18 of the National Prosecuting Authority Act, 1998 provides that the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development must determine the salaries to be paid to Deputy Directors of Public Prosecutions and prosecutors after consultation with the National Director and the Minister for the DPSA and with the concurrence of the Minister of Finance.


42


5.9 OCCUPATIONAL SPECIFIC DISPENSATION (OSD):5.9 OCCUPATIONAL SPECIFIC DISPENSATION (OSD): Aims to assist with retention strategy

Number of Prosecutors appointed in Magisterial positions

Total 109 Prosecutors from 2004 to date

45 43

21

04/'05 05/'06 06/'07

43

6. Annual Plan NPS 2008/2009

• The focus of the NPS for this financial year is to improve service delivery with a focus on finalising cases and reducing the case backlogs and improving overall productivity.

• The measurements are aligned with and support the targets as set out in the ENE to ensure measurable improvement in service delivery.

• In order for the NPS to achieve its objectives for the year it is important to address areas of resourcing in the NPS.

• The NPS will continue to explore its role in crime prevention.

44

7. The Way Forward:7. The Way Forward:

• The need for all stakeholders to work closely together cannot be emphasized more than it should be right now.

• The country’s criminal courts are under overwhelming pressure to deliver.

• This cannot be achieved effectively without a response to the need for a completely satisfactory degree of co-operation amongst all the role players.

• Case flow should improve the focus of all towards more effective and efficient administration of justice through the courts, and a better understanding and appreciation of what is expected from each of the role players involved.

• Uniform targets and standards for all role players will assist in this regard.

45

QUESTIONS?QUESTIONS?

national prosecution services report to select committee on security and constitutional affairs

Documents

regional court performance2

effective cfm

district court performance2

high court performance2

cases withdrawnactual

embraced court

regional courts2

high number of backlog