The number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts of sexual offences against children under the age of 18 years in England and Wales, the north-east region, and Cleveland police force area, by gender, and age group, for the years 1996 to 2007 can be viewed in the following tables 1 to 3.
Data provided are for those statutes where the age of the victim is specified.
Charging data are not held by the Ministry of Justice, hence proceeded against data have been provided in lieu.
The Sexual Offences Act 2003 significantly modernised and strengthened the laws on sexual offences in England and Wales to provide extra protection to children from sexual exploitation. Data for the period 2004 onwards cannot therefore be directly compared to earlier years. Many new offences created by the Act will not have a direct equivalent under the old legislation.
Information for Scotland is a matter for the Scottish Executive and that for Northern Ireland for the Northern Ireland Office.
Data held by the Ministry of Justice cannot be further broken down to constituency level (i.e. Tees Valley district, and Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland); hence Cleveland police force area data have been provided in lieu.
These data are on the principal offence basis. The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the offence selected is the one 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.
Court proceedings data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
England and Wales Age group 10 to 17 Age group 18 to 20 Age group 21 and over Proceeded against Found guilty Conviction rate (%)5 Proceeded against Found guilty Conviction rate (%)5 Proceeded against Found guilty Conviction rate (%)5 Male 1996 74 38 51 38 12 32 428 209 49 1997 82 36 44 45 18 40 578 225 39 1998 110 23 21 58 11 19 638 255 40 1999 122 38 31 57 20 35 658 276 42 20006 133 28 21 65 7 11 586 220 38 2001 135 24 18 85 10 12 886 207 23 2002 205 18 9 117 18 15 959 255 27 2003 234 28 12 140 16 11 882 282 32 2004 285 71 25 161 24 15 1,282 431 34 2005 497 213 43 289 120 42 2,157 1,005 47 2006 479 221 46 250 164 66 2,197 1,367 62 2007 538 278 52 266 163 61 2,166 1,413 65 Female 1996 1 — 0 — 1 n/a 4 — 0 1997 1 — 0 — — — 10 — 0 1998 2 1 50 — — — 2 1 50 1999 — 1 n/a — — — 9 — 0 20006 1 — 0 — — — 3 2 67 2001 — — — — — — 7 1 14 2002 — — — — — — 7 1 14 2003 2 — 0 — — — 7 — 0 2004 — — — — — — 11 4 36 2005 4 2 50 2 — — 19 11 58 2006 1 — 0 — 1 n/a 12 11 92 2007 4 3 75 — 2 n/a 16 7 44 n/a = not applicable 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. 3 Data included in the table are from sections within the 2003 Sexual Offences Act which identify the victim as a minor. 4 The Sexual Offences Act 2003 came into force on 1 May 2004, and supersedes previous Acts. 5 Proportion of those proceeded against who were found guilty. 6 Staffordshire police force were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table. Note: The found guilty column may exceed those proceeded against, as it may be the case that the proceedings in the magistrates court took place in the proceeding year and they were found guilty at the Crown court in the following year, or the defendants were found guilty for a different offence to the original offence proceeded against. Source: Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit, Ministry of Justice
North East Region Age group 10 to 17 Age group 18 to 20 Age group 21 and over Proceeded against Found guilty Conviction rate (%)5 Proceeded against Found guilty Conviction rate (%)5 Proceeded against Found guilty Conviction rate (%)5 Male 1996 11 2 18 4 1 25 35 25 71 1997 10 5 50 2 1 50 43 18 42 1998 8 2 25 4 1 25 73 21 29 1999 13 1 8 2 1 50 62 26 42 2000 18 2 11 5 — 0 47 12 26 2001 9 4 44 9 1 11 49 16 33 2002 12 2 17 4 2 50 50 16 32 2003 14 3 21 8 — 0 44 15 34 2004 17 6 35 8 — 0 56 23 41 2005 36 10 28 13 5 38 115 58 50 2006 46 24 52 19 14 74 130 80 62 2007 44 20 45 18 6 33 134 79 59 Female 1996 — — — — — — — — — 1997 — — — — — — — — — 1998 — — — — — — — — — 1999 — — — — — — — — — 2000 1 — 0 — — — — — — 2001 — — — — — — 1 1 100 2002 — — — — — — — — — 2003 — — — — — — — — — 2004 — — — — — — 1 — 0 2005 — — — 1 — 0 1 — 0 2006 1 — 0 — — — — 1 n/a 2007 — — — — 1 n/a 2 — 0 n/a = not applicable 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. 3 Data included in the table are from sections within the 2003 Sexual Offences Act which identify the victim as a minor. 4 The Sexual Offences Act 2003 came into force on 1 May 2004, and supersedes previous Acts. 5 Proportion of those proceeded against who were found guilty. Note: The found guilty column may exceed those proceeded against, as it may be the case that the proceedings in the magistrates court took place in the proceeding year and they were found guilty at the Crown court in the following year, or the defendants were found guilty for a different offence to the original offence proceeded against.
Table 3: Number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts of sexual offences against children under the age of 18 years in Cleveland police force area, by gender, and age group 1996 to 20071, 2, 3, 4Cleveland police force areaAge group 10 to 17Age group 18 to 20Age group 21 and overProceeded againstFound guiltyConviction rate (%)5Proceeded againstFound guiltyConviction rate (%)5Proceeded againstFound guiltyConviction rate (%)5Male1996——————22100199711100———231501998——————242001999——————7912920001—02—0623320011—01—0745720021—01—011436200322100———8450200432675—0117642005734312200231148200608805360301757200705503133362056Female1996—————————1997————————— 1998—————————1999—————————20001—0——————2001—————————2002—————————2003—————————2004—————————2005—————————2006—————————2007————————— n/a = not applicable1 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.3 Data included in the table are from sections within the 2003 Sexual Offences Act which identify the victim as a minor.4 The Sexual Offences Act 2003 came into force on 1 May 2004, and supersedes previous Acts.5 Proportion of those proceeded against who were found guilty.Note:The found guilty column may exceed those proceeded against, as it may be the case that the proceedings in the magistrates court took place in the proceeding year and they were found guilty at the Crown court in the following year, or the defendants were found guilty for a different offence to the original offence proceeded against.Source:Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit, Ministry of Justice