Information showing the number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for serious sexual offences by Government office region, 2006 and 2007 (latest available) can be viewed in the following table.
Data for 2008 are planned for publication on 28 January 2010.
2006 2007 Region Proceeded against Found guilty Proceeded against Found guilty North East 459 254 432 232 North West 1,156 610 1,201 625 Yorkshire and the Humber 645 420 638 440 East Midlands 605 336 547 370 West Midlands 901 455 776 439 East of England 599 341 466 339 London 1,387 508 1,314 547 South East 900 469 915 497 South West 509 299 520 302 Wales 420 194 407 188 England and Wales 7,581 3,886 7,216 3,979 1 Offences include: Sexual assault on a male Rape or attempted rape of a male and female Sexual assault on a female Sexual activity with child under 13 Sexual activity with child under 16 Sexual activity with a person with a mental disorder Abuse of children through prostitution and pornography Trafficking for sexual exploitation Gross indecency with children 2 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. 3 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: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice
The Court Proceedings Database held by the Ministry of Justice contains information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales on a persons basis. These data include information on the age of the defendant, their gender, the police force area and court where proceedings took place as well as the specific offence and statute for the offence. Other than where specified in a statute statistical information held does not identify the employment status of a victim of an offence.