Yesterday, we looked at the Court’s history since 1990 with civil arbitration cases.  Today, we’re back on the criminal side of the docket, taking a closer look at the Court’s decision making in cases involving property crimes such as robbery, forgery and theft. Between 1990 and 2017, the Court’s cases were almost evenly split between prosecution wins from the Court of Appeal and defense wins – of the Court’s thirty-four cases involving property crimes, 48.65% were won by the prosecution below.  The Court has a somewhat higher-than-expected reversal rate on prosecution wins – 61.11% have been reversed in whole or in part. The Court affirmed one prosecution win per year in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2004, two in 2008 and one in 2009. The Court reversed one prosecution win per year in 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014, and reversed two in 2016. The Court’s reversal rate of defendants’ wins has been considerably higher.  Since 1990, the Court has reversed 84.21% of the cases it’s heard won by defendants below.  The Court has affirmed only three defendants’ wins – one each in 1998, 2012 and 2016. On the other hand, the Court reversed one defendant’s win in 1991, one in 1994, two in 1999, three in 2000, one in 2001, four in 2002 and one per year in 2005, 2006, 2011 and 2012. Overall, the Court has reversed outright in 58.82% of its property crimes cases.  When we add in the partial reversals, the reversal rate goes to 76.47%.  Between 1990 and 1995, the Court reversed two of three cases and partially reversed the third decision.  Between 1996 and 2000, the reversal rate was 77.78%.  Between 2001 and 2005, the Court’s reversal rate was 87.5%.  Between 2006 and 2010, the Court reversed in only two of five cases.  Since 2010, the Court has reversed completely in seven of nine cases for a reversal rate of 77.78%. Join us back here next Thursday as we start work on two new areas of law. Image courtesy of Flickr by Lisa Williams (no changes).