There is no specific definition of a ‘vice’-related offence, however there are a number of offences which can, in some cases, relate to vice. Information on the number of people proceeded against at magistrates' courts and found guilty at all courts for these offences in England and Wales from 2001 to 2005 are provided in the following table.
Information on the nationality of those proceeded against is not held by my Department, and data for 2006 will be available shortly.
Offence description Principal statute Proceeded against Found guilty 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Kerb-crawling. Sexual Offences Act 1985 Sec 1 916 1,053 956 841 717 775 891 834 760 635 Placing an advertisement relating to prostitution. Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 S.46. 6 586 420 410 435 5 549 396 376 408 Common prostitute loitering or soliciting for the purpose of prostitution. Street Offences Act 1959 Sec l 3,129 2,909 2,956 2,002 1,376 2,841 2,668 2,627 1,735 1,116 Other offences3 147 178 134 162 162 104 133 97 106 97 Total 4,198 4,726 4,466 3,415 2,690 3,725 4,241 3,954 2,977 2,256 1 These data are provided on the principal offence basis. 2 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 3 Includes offences under the Sexual Offences Act 1956 Secs 2-4, 9, 22-24, 27-29, 30, 31, 33A, the Sexual Offences Act 1967 Sec 5(1), the sexual Offences Act 1985 Sec 2, the sexual Offences Act 2003 SS 14, 47-50, 52, 53, 55, 57-58, 62 and the Vagrancy Act 1824 Sec 3 and 4.