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Reoffenders: Sentencing

Volume 463: debated on Wednesday 12 September 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many people in England and Wales were sentenced for second serious offences covered by s.2 of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 to a sentence of (a) life imprisonment, (b) a determinate period of imprisonment and (c) a non-custodial sentence in each year since 1998; (155207)

(2) how many people in England and Wales were sentenced for a second class A drug trafficking offence covered by s.3 of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 to a sentence of (a) seven or more years imprisonment, (b) imprisonment of less than seven years and (c) a non-custodial sentence in each year since 1998;

(3) how many people in England and Wales were sentenced for a third domestic burglary offence covered by s.3 of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 to a sentence of (a) seven or more years imprisonment, (b) imprisonment of less than seven years and (c) a non-custodial sentence in each year since 1998.

The data held centrally are not in a format to allow us to answer these questions completely. We are able to answer part (a) for questions 155207 and 155209, we are unable to answer parts (b) and (c) for all three questions. We are able to give the following information, for total number of persons sentenced for:

(i) life for a second serious offence

(ii) minimum seven years for a third class A drug trafficking

(iii) Minimum three years for a third domestic burglary since 2000. Please see as follows (table 2.6 of ‘Sentencing Statistics, England and Wales’).

Table 2.6: Persons sentenced under the Powers of the Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000, 2000-05—England and Wales

Number of persons

Section 109

Section 110

Section 111

Life for second serious offence

Minimum seven years for third class A drug trafficking offence

Minimum three years for third domestic burglary

2000

57

2

2001

51

1

6

2002

44

2

2003

48

3

13

2004

47

4

46

2005

143

3

89

1 Section 109 was replaced in April 2005 by sentences of imprisonment for public protection. Figures therefore relate to offences committed prior to that date.

Also available at:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/hosb0307.pdf

Although care is taken in collating and analysing the returns used to compile these figures, the data are of necessity subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. Consequently, although figures are shown to the last digit in order to provide a comprehensive record of the information collected, they are not necessarily accurate to the last digit shown.