The number of convictions in Northern Ireland’s courts fell in 2024, according to the latest figures from the Department of Justice.

Conviction rates fell from 83.5% in 2023 to 81.7% in 2024, representing a notable decline in successful prosecutions before the courts.

The news comes after PSNI head Jon Boutcher told members of the Policing Board that the force is no longer sufficiently resourced to keep society safe.

Speaking in February, Mr Boutcher said the PSNI was facing a £15 million shortfall in the coming financial year. He said this was much improved on the £101m gap the service had been projecting before it was recently allocated an extra £86m.

Last month a £200m PSNI recovery plan was “shredded” after a plea for extra cash was rejected by Stormont.

According to the latest figures, the majority of both prosecutions and convictions (around 51% for both) last year were of people aged between 30 and 49 years old.

Meanwhile, men accounted for four in every five of all prosecutions before the courts last year.

Those aged over 60 accounted for 6.1% of prosecutions and just 5.4% of convictions in 2024.

Under 18s made up around 2% of prosecutions and convictions.

The largest number of prosecutions last year were for motoring offences (43.2%).

Separately, drug offences (92.9%) had the highest conviction rate at courts.

In terms of punishments, fines made up over half (54.6%).

While just 13.9% of all cases convicted at courts resulted in a custodial outcome in 2024.

The latest data shows that the number of cases dealt with at magistrates’ courts has shown a small decrease since 2023, whilst the numbers dealt with at Crown Court are up slightly on last year’s total.

In terms of out-of-court resolutions, 345 Penalty Notices for Disorder (PNDs) were issued in 2024.

Of all PNDs issued, 82.0% were to men and 33.3% to 18 to 24 year olds.

Around 45% of PNDs were for offences in the Public Order category.

Police gave out 3,823 warnings and cautions in 2024 instead of taking people to court – a drop of 6.2% from the year before. Three-quarters of these were formal cautions.

Most people who received these warnings were men (69%) and nearly half were under 25.

The most common reasons were violence and assault (28%) followed by drug offences (20%).