The number of defendants who were proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for the offence of ‘Depositing litter’ under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 sec.87, in England and Wales, 1998 to 2007 (latest available) is shown in the table.
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.
Proceeded against Found guilty 1998 494 377 1999 501 390 20003 466 333 2001 457 334 2002 332 256 2003 551 406 2004 908 645 2005 1,447 1,017 2006 2,022 1,340 2007 3,063 2,303 1 The figures given in the table on court proceedings 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 it 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 Staffordshire police force were able to submit only 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. Source: OCJR—E and A: Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit, Ministry of Justice