(2) how many and what proportion of offenders convicted in magistrates courts were given custodial sentences of (a) three months or less, (b) three to six months and (c) six to 12 months in each year since 1993; and if he will make a statement.
The following tables show the number of custodial sentences handed down at the magistrates court, split by age and gender, and there associated proportions to the totals.
This information can also be found in table 2.1 of “Sentencing Statistics 2006”, available at:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/sentencingannual.htm
Number of persons and percentages Custody rate and sentence length 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 All offences Total persons sentenced 1,351,789 1,293,961 1,376,514 1,320,751 1,339,986 1,266,634 Number given immediate custody 41,166 46,517 52,615 57,974 59,975 61,868 Percentage given immediate custody 3.0 3.6 3.8 4.4 4.5 4.9 Up to and including 3 months 26,649 30,875 35,078 38,529 37,300 37,396 Proportion (percentage) 65 66 67 66 62 60 Over 3 months and less than 6 months 11,026 12,326 13,854 15,387 17,212 18,440 Proportion (percentage) 27 26 26 27 29 30 6 months 3,491 3,316 3,640 3,974 4,549 4,696 Proportion (percentage) 8 7 7 7 8 8 Over 6 months1 * * 43 84 914 1,336 Proportion (percentage) * * 0 0 2 2 Average custodial sentence length (months) 3.0 2.9 2.8 2.8 3.0 3.1
Custody rate and sentence length 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 All offences Total persons sentenced 1,334,439 1,403,921 1,460,707 1,397,675 1,336,501 Number given immediate custody 64,913 63,396 61,384 57,250 53,431 Percentage given immediate custody 4.9 4.5 4.2 4.1 4.0 Up to and including 3 months 39,476 37,856 36,798 34,377 32,254 Proportion (percentage) 61 60 60 60 60 Over 3 months and less than 6 months 19,370 19,835 19,161 18,365 16,839 Proportion (percentage) 30 31 31 32 32 6 months 4,553 4,413 4,173 3,336 3,018 Proportion (percentage) 7 7 7 6 6 Over 6 months1 1,514 1,292 1,252 1,172 1,320 Proportion (percentage) 2 2 2 2 2 Average custodial sentence length (months) 3.1 3.1 3.0 3.0 3.0 1 Over 6 months sentences relate to secure training orders given to juveniles (introduced in 1998) and replaced by detention and training orders in April 2000.
The following table shows the available information which can also be found in Tables 1.3 and 1.4 of “Sentencing Statistics 2006”, available at:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/sentencingannual.htm
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Magistrates1 courts Violence against the person 3.3 3.1 3.1 3.2 3.6 3.9 3.8 3.9 3.9 3.9 4.0 Sexual offences 3.8 3.5 3.8 3.5 4.4 4.3 4.2 3.9 4.0 4.1 4.3 Burglary 3.5 3.4 3.5 3.6 4.3 4.5 4.7 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 Robbery 3.8 3.7 4.0 3.9 6.6 8.0 9.7 9.1 9.4 8.4 8.7 Theft and handling stolen goods 2.6 2.5 2.4 2.4 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.4 2.4 Fraud and forgery 2.8 2.8 2.9 3.0 3.0 3.1 3.0 3.2 3.3 2.9 2.8 Criminal damage 2.1 2.1 2.3 2.3 2.8 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.5 2.6 Drug offences 2.4 2.2 2.4 2.3 2.5 2.6 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.8 2.6 Other (excl. motoring offences) 2.2 2.1 2.2 2.2 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.2 1.8 1.8 1.9 Motoring offences 3.9 3.8 3.8 4.0 4.5 4.8 4.9 5.2 5.0 4.8 5.0 All indictable 2.9 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.9 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 2.9 2.9 Summary non-motoring offences 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.5 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 Summary motoring offences 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.5 3.5 3.4 3.4 All summary offences 3.1 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.2 3.2 3.2 3.1 3.0 All offences 3.0 2.9 2.8 2.8 3.0 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.0 3.0 3.0 Crown courts Violence against the person 23.8 22.8 22.1 21.7 21.6 22.6 23.9 25.6 25.6 24.5 23.2 Sexual offences 38.6 39.9 40.9 39.7 41.1 40.7 43.4 43.8 43.4 44.4 44.1 Burglary 19.1 20.7 20.2 20.5 20.8 22.3 23.5 24.0 24.6 24.7 24.4 Robbery 40.2 40.9 37.3 37.3 38.3 38.4 41.3 41.7 41.1 38.0 35.7 Theft and handling stolen goods 11.5 12.4 11.7 10.7 10.4 11.1 11.5 12.1 12.3 12.8 12.7 Fraud and forgery 15.2 14.7 15.1 13.6 14.4 14.7 14.8 15.6 15.4 13.7 13.4 Criminal damage 28.6 31.7 25.3 25.6 24.6 26.4 28.2 28.8 28.3 27.2 25.3 Drug offences 30.7 31.7 30.9 33.4 34.5 37.2 39.5 40.0 41.3 40.4 38.8 Other (excl. motoring offences) 12.5 12.4 11.8 12.0 11.9 13.3 14.7 14.7 14.3 15.5 15.7 Motoring offences 9.3 9.5 9.9 9.8 9.7 10.1 10.2 10.4 10.6 10.3 10.7 All indictable 22.4 22.8 22.2 22.5 22.8 24.5 26.3 26.8 27.0 25.9 25.2 Summary non-motoring offences 3.4 3.5 3.5 3.6 3.5 3.3 3.4 3.4 3.5 3.7 3.9 Summary motoring offences 3.9 4.0 3.9 4.0 3.8 3.8 3.7 4.0 3.8 3.7 3.7 All summary offences 3.6 3.6 3.7 3.7 3.6 3.5 3.5 3.6 3.6 3.7 3.9 All offences 22.1 22.5 21.8 22.1 22.4 24.2 25.9 26.3 26.5 25.5 24.7 1 Excludes life and indeterminate sentences. 2 Principle offence basis. Note: 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. Source: RDS-NOMS, Ministry of Justice