Legal Aid, Courtworker, and Public Legal Education and Information Needs in the Northwest Territories


Table 11: Plea in Justice of Peace Courts, by Charge Type
Type of Charge 2000 2001 Jan 1 – June 30, 2002 Total
Plea Plea Plea Plea
Guilty Not Guilty Total Guilty Not Guilty Total Guilty Not Guilty Total Guilty Not Guilty Total
Administration of Justice Charges 145 9 154 141 2 143 80 0 80 366 11 377
94 % 6 % 100 % 99 % 1 % 100 % 100 % 0 % 100 % 97 % 3 % 100 %
Drugs 28 1 29 29 7 36 17 1 18 74 9 83
97 % 3 % 100 % 81 % 19 % 100 % 94 % 6 % 100 % 89 % 11 % 100 %
Offence Against the Person 276 37 313 306 14 320 139 3 142 721 54 775
88 % 12 % 100 % 96 % 4 % 100 % 98 % 2 % 100 % 93 % 7 % 100 %
Property Offences 122 10 132 122 2 124 55 1 56 299 13 312
92 % 8 % 100 % 98 % 2 % 100 % 98 % 2 % 100 % 96 % 4 % 100 %
Territorial Offences 146 116 262 124 168 292 51 170 221 321 454 775
56 % 44 % 100 % 42 % 58 % 100 % 23 % 77 % 100 % 41 % 59 % 100 %
Other Offences 31 3 34 63 2 65 43 1 44 137 6 143
91 % 9 % 100 % 97 % 3 % 100 % 98 % 2 % 100 % 96 % 4 % 100 %
Total 748 176 924 785 195 980 385 176 561 1 918 547 2 465
81 % 19 % 100 % 80 % 20 % 100 % 69 % 31 % 100 % 78 % 22 % 100 %

Notes:

  1. Source: Adapted from Court Services data, Department of Justice, GNWT.
  2. These data only include charges for which a plea was recorded. An entry of “no plea” was made in the criminal justice system for 29% to 37% of charges in the years presented in this table. These usually represent cases in which the accused is not present in court and is convicted ex parte by the JP.
  3. This table does not include summary offence ticket informations such as liquor violations, municipal by-laws, and fishing regulations.
  4. Total charges vary slightly from the previous table because of incomplete data capture for individual categories within either table. Given overall volumes, these discrepancies are not significant.