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Computer Misuse Act

Volume 472: debated on Friday 22 February 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been for unauthorised (i) access to computer material, (ii) access to computer material with intent to commit or facilitate commission of further offences and (iii) modification of computer material under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. (187287)

The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for various offences relating to “computer material”, in England and Wales for the year 2006 can be found in the following table.

Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for various offences relating to "computer material," in England and Wales for the year 20061, 2

Statute

Offence description

Prosecuted

Found guilty

Computer Misuse Act 1990 Sec 2

Unauthorised access with intent to commit or facilitate commission of further offences

5

4

Computer Misuse Act 1990 Sec 3

Unauthorised modification of computer material

13

10

Computer Misuse Act 1990 Sec. 1

Unauthorised access to computer material

4

4

1 These data are 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. Source: Court proceedings database held by RDS Office for Criminal Justice Reform - Ministry of Justice