Data showing the number of persons found guilty of offences under the 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act in England and Wales from 1997 to 2007 (latest available) are in the following table.
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Found guilty 241 406 442 459 522 517 531 582 625 668 782 1 The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 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.