The number of women sentenced to immediate custody of less than three months in England and Wales for the years 2001 to 2005 is shown in the following table. 2006 figures are due for publication in the autumn.
Number 2001 2,951 2002 3,254 2003 3,290 2004 3,245 2005 3,106
These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.