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Young Offender Institutions

Volume 460: debated on Tuesday 22 May 2007

To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many (a) boys and (b) girls were held in young offender institutions in each of the last 10 years. (138192)

Information on the numbers of 15 to 17-year-olds within the prison population in England and Wales as at 30 June in each year between 1995 and 2006, can be found in the following table.

No one under the age of 15 is held in Prison Service establishments.

These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Population of under 18s held in prison establishments by type of custody and sex1, England and Wales 30 June

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

Males

Aged 15

Total

181

217

254

244

218

283

300

302

227

271

243

289

Untried

34

35

46

48

29

35

41

33

29

37

38

32

Convicted unsentenced

20

39

28

38

15

16

7

26

8

15

14

27

Immediate custodial sentence

127

143

180

158

174

232

252

243

190

220

191

230

Non-criminal

Aged 16

Total

453

582

643

675

639

664

704

753

661

639

685

726

Untried

104

133

114

100

106

82

69

99

81

74

78

98

Convicted unsentenced

51

64

57

83

49

32

29

55

40

43

43

36

Immediate custodial sentence

298

385

472

492

484

550

606

599

540

522

563

592

Non-criminal

1

Aged 17

Total

992

1,225

1,511

1,468

1,479

1,398

1,340

1,434

1,288

1,288

1,326

1,423

Untried

260

304

297

286

285

242

182

183

206

211

210

250

Convicted unsentenced

200

187

246

205

209

147

105

110

88

111

88

130

Immediate custodial sentence

532

734

968

977

985

1,009

1,053

1,139

993

965

1,026

1,043

Non-criminal

2

1

2

In default of payment of a fine

Females

Aged 15

Total

1

7

9

7

7

3

7

9

Untried

Convicted unsentenced

Immediate custodial sentence

1

7

9

7

7

3

7

9

Non-criminal

Aged 16

Total

13

17

12

20

22

28

12

27

6

2

1

Untried

Convicted unsentenced

1

1

Immediate Custodial Sentence

12

17

12

20

22

28

12

27

6

1

1

Non-criminal

Aged 17

Total

35

45

50

52

57

58

71

81

71

74

71

69

Untried

11

8

11

8

13

13

13

5

12

10

11

14

Convicted unsentenced

6

4

7

9

6

7

12

7

8

84

5

Immediate Custodial Sentence

18

33

32

35

38

38

46

68

51

57

54

50

Non-criminal

2

In default of payment of a fine

1 Taken from table 8.20 in the Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2005 to be found at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/hosb1806section8.xls

Data Sources and Quality:

These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system, and so although shown to the last individual, the figures may not be accurate to that level. See Technical appendix of report for fuller information.