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Crime: Young People

Volume 490: debated on Friday 27 March 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many young people aged between 13 and 19 years have been charged with a non-violent offence in (a) England, (b) the North East and (c) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency in each of the last five years. (262914)

Information provided by the Ministry of Justice on the number of persons aged 13 to 19 years proceeded against at magistrates courts for indictable offences in England and Wales, England, the North East region, and Cleveland, Durham and Northumbria police force areas (PFAs), from 2003 to 2007 (latest available) are provided in tables 1 to 4. Information for Northern Ireland and Scotland are matters for the Northern Ireland Office and the Scottish Executive respectively.

Charging data are not collected centrally and prosecutions data are therefore given in lieu.

Data are not available at parliamentary constituency level. Data are provided in table 4 broken down by those PFAs, comprising the North East region, in which the Middlesbrough, South and East Cleveland constituency is located.

For consistency with published information, data are given in the tables, by offence group, for persons proceeded against at magistrates courts for indictable offences.

Table 1: Number of persons aged 13 to 19 years proceeded against at magistrates courts for indictable offences in England and Wales, by offence group, 2003 to 20071,2,3

England and Wales

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Violent offences

Violence against the person

20,274

18,869

18,649

18,548

17,955

Sexual offences

1,544

1,715

1,644

1,468

1,412

Robbery

7,289

7,254

7,602

8,387

8,849

Sub-total

29,107

27,838

27,895

28,403

28,216

Other indictable offences

Burglary

13,583

12,427

11,793

11,583

11,515

Theft and handling stolen goods

35,300

32,283

30,677

29,014

31,024

Fraud and forgery

2,955

2,599

2,232

1,870

1,897

Criminal damage

6,389

6,198

5,969

6,474

6,294

Drug offences

12,621

9,355

9,357

9,253

10,627

Other indictable offences

20,830

19,185

17,338

16,010

14,593

Indictable motoring offences

2,301

1,988

1,629

1,414

1,255

Sub-total

93,979

84,035

78,995

75,618

77,205

Total indictable

123,086

111,873

106,890

104,021

105,421

1 These 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.

3 ‘Indictable’ includes ‘indictable only’ and ‘triable-either-way offences’. ‘Indictable only’ are the most serious breaches of the criminal law and must be dealt with at the Crown court. ‘Triable-either-way’ offences may be tried either at the Crown court or at magistrates courts.

Source:

Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit.

Table 2: Number of persons aged 13 to 19 years proceeded against at magistrates courts for indictable offences in England, by offence group, 2003 to 20071,2,3

England

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Violent offences

Violence against the person

18,828

17,428

17,341

17,352

16,788

Sexual offences

1,465

1,606

1,538

1,379

1,314

Robbery

7,122

7,082

7,425

8,220

8,623

Sub-total

27,415

26,116

26,304

26,951

26,725

Other indictable offences

Burglary

12,536

11,465

11,030

10,808

10,814

Theft and handling stolen goods

32,846

30,051

28,769

27,445

29,501

Fraud and forgery

2,805

2,435

2,115

1,785

1,812

Criminal damage

5,822

5,796

5,611

6,211

6,044

Drug offences

11,875

8,750

8,824

8,780

10,186

Other indictable offences

19,406

17,784

16,138

15,012

13,675

Indictable motoring offences

2,105

1,834

1,501

1,290

1,172

Sub-total

87,395

78,115

73,988

71,331

73,204

Total indictable

114,810

104,231

100,292

98,282

99,929

1 These 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.

3 ‘Indictable’ includes ‘indictable only’ and ‘triable-either-way offences’. ‘Indictable only’ are the most serious breaches of the criminal law and must be dealt with at the Crown court. ‘Triable-either-way’ offences may be tried either at the Crown court or at magistrates courts.

Source:

Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit.

Table 3: Number of persons aged 13 to 19 years proceeded against at magistrates courts for indictable offences in the North East region, by offence group, 2003 to 20071,2,3

North East region

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Violent offences

Violence against the person

1,353

1,187

1,198

1,274

1,336

Sexual offences

82

104

107

109

94

Robbery

260

208

172

182

183

Sub-total

1,695

1,499

1,477

1,565

1,613

Other indictable offences

Burglary

989

725

698

715

746

Theft and handling stolen goods

2,581

2,171

2,000

1,985

2,308

Fraud and forgery

142

113

112

85

114

Criminal damage

305

226

179

214

347

Drug offences

1,010

649

691

646

680

Other indictable offences

1,461

1,226

1,173

1,135

1,133

Indictable motoring offences

162

137

110

101

85

Sub-total

6,650

5,247

4,963

4,881

5,413

Total indictable

8,345

6,746

6,440

6,446

7,026

1 These 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.

3 ‘Indictable’ includes ‘indictable only’ and ‘triable-either-way offences’. ‘Indictable only’ are the most serious breaches of the criminal law and must be dealt with at the Crown court. ‘Triable-either-way’ offences may be tried either at the Crown court or at magistrates courts.

Source:

Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit.

Table 4: Number of persons aged 13 to 19 years proceeded against at magistrates courts for indictable offences in Cleveland, Durham and Northumbria police force areas, comprising the North East region, by offence group, 2003 to 20071,2,3

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Cleveland police force area

Violent offences

Violence against the person

267

209

223

286

275

Sexual offences

15

23

21

25

12

Robbery

75

64

45

46

39

Sub-total

357

296

289

357

326

Other indictable

Burglary

256

191

181

203

198

Theft and handling stolen goods

599

520

430

423

528

Fraud and forgery

27

16

10

9

14

Criminal damage

77

54

38

26

28

Drug offences

199

102

112

78

110

Other indictable offences

362

313

228

212

194

Indictable motoring offences

44

35

30

16

20

Sub-total

1,564

1,231

1,029

967

1,092

Total indictable

1,921

1,527

1,318

1,324

1,418

Durham police force area

Violent offences

Violence against the person

275

249

311

335

320

Sexual offences

18

41

33

33

28

Robbery

29

22

20

27

29

Sub-total

322

312

364

395

377

Other indictable offences

Burglary

189

143

190

141

197

Theft and handling stolen goods

359

330

384

366

426

Fraud and forgery

27

20

24

12

31

Criminal damage

114

94

69

70

193

Drug offences

124

65

91

61

78

Other indictable offences

194

172

240

240

269

Indictable motoring offences

34

33

19

18

15

Sub-total

1,041

857

1,017

908

1,209

Total indictable

1,363

1,169

1,381

1,303

1,586

Northumbria police force area

Violent offences

Violence against the person

811

729

664

653

741

Sexual offences

49

40

53

51

54

Robbery

156

122

107

109

115

Sub-total

1,016

891

824

813

910

Other indictable offences

Burglary

544

391

327

371

351

Theft and handling stolen goods

1,623

1,321

1,186

1,196

1,354

Fraud and forgery

88

77

78

64

69

Criminal damage

114

78

72

118

126

Drug offences

687

482

488

507

492

Other indictable offences

905

741

705

683

670

Indictable motoring offences 84

69

61

67

50

Sub-total

4,045

3,159

2,917

3,006

3,112

Total indictable

5,061

4,050

3,741

3,819

4,022

1 These 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.

3 ‘Indictable’ includes ‘indictable only’ and ‘triable-either-way offences’. ‘Indictable only’ are the most serious breaches of the criminal law and must be dealt with at the Crown court. ‘Triable-either-way’ offences may be tried either at the Crown court or at magistrates courts.

Source:

Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit.