Information showing the number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for offences under the 1990 Computer Misuse Act in England and Wales from 2003 to 2007 (latest available) is shown in the following table. Data for 2008 will be available towards the end of 2009.
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Offence Statute Proceeded against Found guilty Proceeded against Found guilty Proceeded against Found guilty Proceeded against Found guilty Proceeded against Found guilty Unauthorised access to computer material. Section 1 7 1 5 3 5 4 7 4 8 3 Unauthorised access with intent to commit or facilitate commission of further offences. Section 2 9 3 6 2 11 7 5 4 2 — Unauthorised acts with intent to impair, or with recklessness as to impairing, operation of computer etc Section 3 and 3A 3 1 10 7 8 5 13 10 9 7 Total 19 5 21 12 24 16 25 18 19 10 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. Source: Evidence and Analysis unit—Office for Criminal Justice Reform