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Prosecutions

Volume 506: debated on Friday 26 February 2010

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people aged (a) under 10, (b) from 10 to 17, (c) from 18 to 20 and (d) 21 years and over were (i) arrested, (ii) charged and (iii) convicted for (A) violent and (B) non-violent offences in each year since 1998. (315080)

The information requested on arrests covering the period from 1999-2000 (when the collection began) to 2007-08 (latest available) is provided in table A.

Data on arrests in 2008-09 are scheduled to be published in April 2010.

Information provided by the Ministry of Justice showing the number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for violent and non-violent offences, broken down by age group, in England and Wales from 1998 to 2008 (latest available) can be viewed in table B.

The court proceedings database held by the Ministry of Justice does not hold information on convictions for persons aged under 10 who are under the age of liability.

Data for 2009 are planned to be published in the autumn 2010.

Information on the offenders dealt with by the Criminal Justice System does not necessarily reflect wider trends for characteristics of perpetrators of crimes, where often an offender will not be apprehended.

Table A: Number of persons arrested for recorded crime (notifiable offences) by age group and type of offence1, 2, 1999-2000 to 2007-08, England and Wales

Number of arrests3

Year and notifiable offence group

Aged under 10

Aged 10-17

Aged 18-20

Aged 21and over

Age unknown

All ages

1999-2000

Violent offences

100

65,100

46,700

196,400

0

308,400

Other offences

1,000

253,300

175,700

539,400

0

969,600

Total

1,200

318,400

222,400

735,800

0

1,277,900

2000-01

Violent offences

100

68,000

46,100

199,300

1,800

314,800

Other offences

700

252,700

166,300

524,900

4,400

949,500

Total

800

320,600

212,400

724,100

6,300

1,264,200

2001-02

Violent offences

100

70,500

47,900

201,400

900

320,500

Other offences

400

243,800

160,300

544,200

2,500

951,400

Total

500

314,200

208,100

745,700

3,400

1,271,900

2002-03

Violent offences

100

70,600

50,800

226,600

900

348,700

Other offences

300

229,000

156,300

576,500

2,200

964,400

Total

500

299,500

207,000

803,200

2,900

1,313,100

2003-04

Violent offences

100

83,000

56,900

256,000

900

396,800

Other offences

500

230,300

145,200

555,600

1,900

933,800

Total

700

313,200

202,200

811,700

2,700

1,330,400

2004-054

Violent offences

200

96,700

66,800

294,000

900

458,400

Other offences

500

236,100

137,000

519,500

1,900

894,900

Total

800

332,800

203,700

813,400

2,800

1,353,400

2005-06

Violent offences

200

108,500

74,500

331,800

800

515,800

Other offences

500

239,900

140,300

531,100

2,000

914,000

Total

800

348,500

214,700

863,100

2,700

1,429,800

2006-07

Violent offences

93

115,173

81,617

362,585

1,037

560,505

Other offences

353

238,197

144,293

536,643

2,165

921,651

Total

446

353,370

225,910

899,228

3,202

1,482,156

2007-08

Violent offences

41

102,802

77,864

363,629

1,685

546,021

Other offences

122

212,599

145,759

568,021

2,744

929,245

Total

163

315,401

223,623

931,650

4,429

1,475,266

1 Violent offences includes the offence categories of: violence against the person; sexual offences; robbery offences. Other offences includes the offence categories of: burglary; theft and handling stolen goods; fraud and forgery; .criminal damage; drug offences; other offences.

2 Information on the offenders dealt with by the Criminal Justice System does not necessarily reflect wider trends for characteristics of perpetrators of crimes, where often an offender will not be apprehended.

3 Figures from 2003-04 to 2005-06 are rounded to the nearest 100 therefore figures for these years may not add up to the totals, subsequent years' figures are unrounded. Additionally, figures for violent and other offences for years previous to 2006-07 may not be accurate due to the summing of rounded figures.

4 Figures updated since publication of 2004-05 bulletin.

Note:

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 police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when these data are used.

Table B: The number of persons found guilty at all courts for offences relating to violent, and non violent offences, in England and Wales, by age group, 1998 to 20081, 2, 3, 4

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

20085,6

10-17

Violent offences

8,650

8,515

9,095

10,213

10,235

9,668

10,457

11,061

11,713

12,337

11,513

Non-violent offences

77,856

81,765

82,328

85,317

84,311

82,873

85,733

85,096

81,976

85,104

76,878

18-20

Violent offences

7,959

7,836

7,865

8,042

8,429

8,129

8,520

8,821

9,449

9,849

9,470

Non-violent offences

159,431

157,979

154,415

150,387

151,361

154,359

148,231

137,806

133,612

130,763

128,474

21 and over

Violent offences

30,550

29,279

28,144

27,908

31,139

31,897

32,438

32,938

33,708

33,669

34,146

Non-violent offences

1,173,120

1,112,897

1,131,712

1,057,862

1,126,726

1,194,295

1,252,609

1,199,530

1,143,315

1,136,243

1,094,665

All ages

Violent offences

47,159

45,630

45,104

46,163

49,803

49,694

51,415

52,820

54,870

55,855

55,129

Non-violent offences

1,410,407

1,352,641

1,368,455

1,293,566

1,362,398

1,431,527

1,486,573

1,422,432

1,358,903

1,352,110

1,300,017

1 Data given relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence 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 Data include the following offence types:

Violent offences:

Violence against the person

Sexual Offences

Robbery

Non Violent offences:

Burglary

Theft and handling stolen goods

Fraud and forgery

Criminal damage

Drug offences

Other indictable offences

Indictable motoring offences

Summary offences (excluding motoring)

Summary motoring offences

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, other agencies, 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.

4 Information on the offenders dealt with by the Criminal Justice System does not necessarily reflect wider trends for characteristics of perpetrators of crimes, where often an offender will not be apprehended.

5 Excludes Convictions for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2006.

6 Includes those cases where sex is not stated.

Source:

Justice Statistics Analytical Services Ministry of Justice

[Ref: IOS 055-10]