Skip to main content

Drugs: Convictions

Volume 507: debated on Friday 12 March 2010

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) arrests, (b) prosecutions, (c) convictions and (d) cautions of (i) men and (ii) women in each police force area for drug offences relating to each type of drug there were in each year since 1997. (321902)

The number of offenders cautioned, defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts by drug class, sex and police force area, 1997 to 2008 (latest available) can be viewed in tables 1 and 2 that have been placed in the House Library.

Court data for 2009 are planned for publication in the autumn, 2010.

The arrests collection held by the Home Office covers arrests for recorded crime (notifiable offences) only, broken down at a main offence group level, covering categories such as violence against the person, robbery and drug offences.

Data on arrests for drug offences from 1999-2000 (previous data unavailable) to 2007-08 (latest available) are provided in tables 3 and 4 as follows. It is not possible from these centrally reported data, to identify the specific drugs involved in the arrests.

Table 3: Number of males arrested for drug offences by sex and police force area, England and Wales, 1999-2000 to 2007-08

Males

Force name

1999-20001

2000-01

2001-02

2002-03

2003-04

2004-05

2005-06

2006-07

2007-08

Avon and Somerset

1,436

1,735

1,698

1,670

1,433

1,231

1,229

1,444

1,892

Bedfordshire

892

775

850

789

695

550

526

471

652

Cambridgeshire

725

619

694

585

543

439

581

751

910

Cheshire

1,415

1,250

1,166

1,288

873

846

584

661

828

Cleveland

1,242

1,043

1,468

1,499

1,383

n/a

1,138

878

920

Cumbria

1,103

761

755

861

785

770

764

767

717

Derbyshire

1,180

1,020

1,046

1,214

1,288

1,095

810

691

861

Devon and Cornwall

2,059

1,903

2,456

2,478

2,250

1,554

1,602

1,544

1,806

Dorset

1,111

948

1,036

946

910

820

839

899

908

Durham

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

868

797

918

695

648

Essex

1,704

1,833

1,438

1,625

1,399

959

877

966

1,992

Gloucestershire

904

903

893

890

794

542

538

459

681

Greater Manchester

4,169

3,992

3,703

4,481

4,413

3,502

3,517

3,734

4,597

Hampshire

3,392

2,695

2,668

2,628

2,587

2,061

1,979

1,559

2,077

Hertfordshire

946

1,106

1,015

1,053

1,125

1,216

1,335

1,383

1,794

Humberside

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

1,200

984

870

999

1,083

Kent

2,663

2,072

2,077

2,144

1,772

1,343

1,658

1,709

2,393

Lancashire

2,881

2,812

2,898

3,616

3,165

2,927

2,955

2,867

3,742

Leicestershire

1,200

1,120

1,396

1,624

1,158

940

897

835

891

Lincolnshire

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

238

776

717

London, City of

n/a

n/a

440

640

577

279

341

374

409

Merseyside

4,990

4,741

4,675

6,650

6,275

4,231

4,100

3,502

6,164

Metropolitan Police

22,807

20,348

21,417

25,823

21,771

14,489

16,342

17,598

20,505

Norfolk

1,201

899

881

905

921

812

709

782

1,008

Northamptonshire

670

603

545

507

439

589

561

538

538

Northumbria

4,044

4,153

4,642

5,103

4,609

3,723

3,882

3,852

3,142

North Yorkshire

1,295

1,132

1,359

1,470

1,471

n/a

n/a

842

994

Nottinghamshire

1,363

1,621

1,481

1,604

1,824

1,284

n/a

1,670

2,148

South Yorkshire

2,984

2,935

2,797

2,895

2,327

1,649

1,623

1,742

2,083

Staffordshire

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

1,378

1,119

931

1,336

1,539

Suffolk

858

695

633

752

813

664

712

704

589

Surrey

1,059

1,354

1,374

1,306

1,015

835

889

799

1,108

Sussex

327

1,481

1,892

2,003

1,717

1,271

1,610

1,488

1,868

Thames Valley

3,305

3,033

3,192

3,257

3,232

3,910

4,299

4,275

4,160

Warwickshire

605

413

462

457

477

334

316

342

307

West Mercia

1,488

1,263

1,166

1,069

1,090

905

1,009

972

960

West Midlands

n/a

n/a

n/a

6,209

5,716

3,102

3,614

3,410

4,342

West Yorkshire

4,353

3,954

3,574

4,393

3,958

3,273

3,839

3,701

3,345

Wiltshire

648

601

576

473

516

326

374

344

324

Dyfed Powys

n/a

1,376

2,343

2,681

2,031

1,176

1,323

1,138

1,126

Gwent

n/a

n/a

n/a

1,534

1,250

556

643

755

733

North Wales

1,265

1,089

1,106

1,560

1,854

1,006

776

1,242

1,306

South Wales

556

2,609

3,075

2,931

2,386

1,307

1,802

1,797

2,035

England and Wales1

105,400

97,400

101,500

114,700

97,800

72,500

76,300

77,291

90,842

n/a = Data not available

1 Figures for England and Wales from 1999-2000 to 2005-06 are estimated to take account of missing data for some forces, additionally, data for 1999-2000 is of lower quality than subsequent years due to it being the first year data on arrests were collected.

Table 4: Number of females arrested for drug offences by sex and police force area, England and Wales, 1999-2000 to 2007-08

Females

Force name

1999-20001

2000-01

2001-02

2002-03

2003-04

2004-05

2005-06

2006-07

2007-08

Avon and Somerset

248

328

317

340

305

269

267

247

300

Bedfordshire

101

129

119

116

116

104

86

53

83

Cambridgeshire

117

116

110

126

103

86

116

159

180

Cheshire

207

141

110

139

108

117

121

123

124

Cleveland

252

216

377

471

435

n/a

332

251

291

Cumbria

194

186

121

154

152

157

148

164

116

Derbyshire

173

137

170

163

229

220

149

128

172

Devon and Cornwall

407

344

485

554

485

352

381

341

398

Dorset

223

176

213

168

189

142

212

231

200

Durham

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

167

163

193

160

190

Essex

350

275

205

225

186

177

137

164

316

Gloucestershire

183

150

173

195

138

124

101

84

144

Greater Manchester

622

601

512

655

713

632

630

535

726

Hampshire

376

364

453

461

434

397

396

317

394

Hertfordshire

135

145

150

146

176

177

227

205

250

Humberside

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

284

258

212

210

259

Kent

499

316

337

377

368

305

315

331

389

Lancashire

434

373

418

594

483

422

432

413

508

Leicestershire

181

183

204

198

168

163

169

153

136

Lincolnshire

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

43

130

111

London, City of

n/a

n/a

28

36

58

41

33

29

32

Merseyside

504

463

488

667

632

347

188

380

603

Metropolitan Police

2,478

2,182

2,155

2,284

2,085

1,650

1,609

1,735

1,926

Norfolk

206

163

139

169

196

200

155

173

191

Northamptonshire

136

95

113

115

114

122

124

100

90

Northumbria

675

678

831

859

781

698

624

614

590

North Yorkshire

208

200

190

237

352

n/a

n/a

188

240

Nottinghamshire

264

251

255

258

349

301

n/a

307

413

South Yorkshire

602

551

483

506

595

447

428

415

459

Staffordshire

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

238

231

183

212

269

Suffolk

154

99

94

125

192

166

143

131

114

Surrey

153

178

172

169

144

145

156

139

161

Sussex

62

285

390

392

397

279

338

365

438

Thames Valley

522

518

506

516

613

571

624

582

579

Warwickshire

76

41

59

64

55

60

63

45

48

West Mercia

247

204

200

170

207

185

204

167

157

West Midlands

n/a

n/a

n/a

675

663

391

435

395

424

West Yorkshire

712

775

728

722

752

518

782

679

533

Wiltshire

122

90

95

69

63

62

72

64

75

Dyfed Powys

n/a

250

385

461

377

218

228

218

225

Gwent

n/a

n/a

n/a

185

130

71

86

92

96

North Wales

188

150

144

239

282

181

159

228

217

South Wales

99

443

656

640

529

387

434

445

523

England and Wales1

15,700

13,900

15,100

16,400

15,200

12,200

12,300

12,102

13,690

n/a = Data not available

1 Figures for England and Wales from 1999-2000 to 2005-06 are estimated to take account of missing data for some forces, additionally, data for 1999-2000 is of lower quality than subsequent years due to it being the first year data on arrests were collected.