Custodial and suspended sentences are separate and mutually exclusive disposal categories. Table 1 provides the total number of convicted criminals, the number and percentage of those convicted who were given a custodial sentence and the number and percentage given a suspended sentence at the Crown court for each calendar month. Table 2 provides data corresponding to magistrates courts.
Figures are provided for 2004, the most up-to-date available at present.
It should be noted that data are collated on the principal offence rule: thus only the most serious offence with which an offender is charged is included.
Crown court Total number convicted Number given custodial sentence Percentage of total number convicted given custodial sentence Number given suspended sentence Percentage of total number convicted given suspended sentence January 222 88 40 26 12 February 119 57 48 37 31 March 128 62 48 39 30 April 86 39 45 31 36 May 96 47 49 28 29 June 163 96 59 40 25 July 55 32 58 12 22 August 27 14 52 7 26 September 129 77 60 31 24 October 136 69 51 45 33 November 107 44 41 31 29 December 26 13 50 7 27 Total 1,294 638 49 334 26
Magistrates court Total number convicted Number given custodial sentence Percentage of total number convicted given custodial sentence Number given suspended sentence Percentage of total number convicted given suspended sentence January 2,228 125 6 143 6 February 2,176 146 7 149 7 March 2,427 199 8 163 7 April 2,280 110 5 167 7 May 2,222 142 6 165 7 June 2,507 162 6 171 7 July 2,083 114 5 103 5 August 2,250 89 4 127 6 September 2,376 144 6 162 7 October 2,218 152 7 172 8 November 2,214 150 7 183 8 December 1,650 81 5 136 8 Total 26,631 1,614 6 1,841 7