The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for an offence under section 123 of the 1997 Police Act are shown in the table below. Section 123(2) of the 1997 Police Act states that it is an offence to “Make a false statement to obtain a criminal record or conviction certificate”. Centrally held data do not separately identify under which part of section 123 court proceedings took place.
Data for 2008 will be available towards the end of 2009.
Number Proceeded against 1 Found guilty 1 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: Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit