Belief we'll have to wait and see to understand why remand numbers are shifting.

The numbers of remand prisoners fell for three consecutive quarters last year.

It peaked last March at just over 45 hundred, before falling by the end of the year. 

Over the same period, the total prison population grew by 275.

Criminal lawyer Steve Cullen told Ryan Bridge it could be previous delays in the courts, that led more on remand. 

He says you can have generational cohorts coming through or a population wave which changes the types of offending.