Young Offenders

Jenny Willott
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average age was of (a) juvenile and (b) young offenders in secure accommodation in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Hanson
The average age of juveniles (those aged between 15 and 17) detained within prison establishments in England and Wales as at 30 June was 16.5 in each year between 2002, the earliest year for which this information is available, and 2007; the average age of young adults1 was 19.3 in each year since 2002.

These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

1 Young adults are those aged 18-20 and those 21-year-olds who were aged 20 or under at conviction who have not been reclassified as part of the adult population.