Data held centrally on sentencing show only the sentencing of principal offences. Failure to appear may be sentenced as a principal offence but can be sentenced with other more serious offences. In such cases the sentence given for failure to appear is not recorded centrally. There were 17,351 cases where a sentence for failure to appear is recorded for 2008. Of these 7,527 received fines and the average fine was £68.52. A further 2,347 received immediate custody and the average sentence length was 25 days.
The requested information is shown in the following table.
The 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 two or more offences the principal offence is the one for which the statutory maximum is most severe.
Number/£ Total sentenced 17,351 Average fine (£) 68.52 Average custodial sentence length (days) 25.0 Absolute discharge 416 Conditional discharge 1,595 Fine 7,527 Community sentence 2,991 Suspended Sentence Order 203 Immediate custody 2,347 Otherwise dealt with 2,272 1 Bail Act 1976 S.6 Notes: 1. These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. 2. 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