Young Offenders: Sentencing

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what percentage of (a) 10 to 12, (b) 13 to 15, (c) 16 and 17 and (d) 18 to 20 year olds convicted of a non-violent offence were given a custodial sentence in each year since 1997. (291255)

The requested information is shown in the following table.

Data for 2008 will become available once ‘Sentencing Statistics 2008’ is published.

This data are presented on the principal offence basis, where an offender has been sentenced for more than one offence the principal offence is the one for which the heaviest sentence was imposed, where the same sentence has been imposed for more than one offence the principal offence is the one for which the statutory maximum is most severe.

*Percentage of offenders sentenced to immediate custodial sentences for non-violent indictable offences*¹ *1997-2007*
Age group	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
10-12 years old	1.00	0.80	1.00	2.50	3.30	1.70	1.30	2.00	1.40	0.90	0.80
13-15 years old	6.90	6.30	6.70	8.20	9.00	9.20	7.90	7.30	6.50	7.10	6.00
16-17 years old	16.90	15.70	15.60	14.60	14.20	14.80	12.90	13.10	12.50	13.00	11.40
18-20 years old	21.60	21.50	21.60	23.20	23.30	23.10	20.90	22.20	22.40	22.50	22.50
¹ Non-violent indictable offences includes all indictable offences not included in the violence against the person offence group. Summary offences have not been included as they are not categorised into violent and non-violent offences. Source: OMS Analytical Services, Ministry of Justice.

These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems.

Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.

Volume 496: debated on Wednesday 16 September 2009