Drugs: Crime James Brokenshire To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people have been convicted of (a) possession and (b) supply of illegal drugs of each classification level in each of the last 10 years; and how many such people received (i) a custodial sentence and (ii) the maximum possible sentence in each case. Maria Eagle The requested information is contained in the following tables. The maximum sentence is available for the most serious possible case of a particular crime. The average sentence for an offence will, rightly, fall well below the maximum. --------------------------------------------------------------------- |Number of persons | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |Offence description |1997|1998|1999|2000|2001|2002|2003|2004|2005|2006| --------------------------------------------------------------------- |Possession Class A |6,485|8,167|9,720|10,439|11,548|11.417|10,985|10,737|10,728|11,469| --------------------------------------------------------------------- |Possession Class B |20,910|27,359|26,687|23,210|22,960|26,139|28,093|8,568|4,362|3,836| --------------------------------------------------------------------- |Possession Class C |145|187|159|117|371|533|515|8,304|12,170|12,688| --------------------------------------------------------------------- |Supplying Class A |3,632|3,634|4,098|4,528|5,158|5,253|5,679|5,821|5,975|5,721| --------------------------------------------------------------------- |Supplying Class B |5,201|5,571|4,484|3,323|2,315|2,346|2,394|1,638|722|568| --------------------------------------------------------------------- |Supplying Class C |110|97|94|56|57|61|73|832|1,806|2,048| --------------------------------------------------------------------- |1 These data are on the principle offence basis.Source:OCJR E and A| --------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- |Number of persons | -------------------------------------------------- |Offence description |1997|1998|1999|2000|2001|2002|2003|2004|2005|2006| -------------------------------------------------- |Possessing class A |548|816|966|1,000|1.109|988|907|788|796|796| -------------------------------------------------- |Possessing class B |395|624|634|460|372|316|370|174|122|112| -------------------------------------------------- |Possessing class C |13|12|9|6|11|16|7|82|140|175| -------------------------------------------------- |Supply class A |2,863|2,807|3,320|3,631|4,031|4,064|4,415|4,551|4,203|4,056| -------------------------------------------------- |Supply class B |643|729|510|349|177|174|201|202|180|170| -------------------------------------------------- |Supply class C |684|692|610|431|296|279|241|326|643|700| -------------------------------------------------- |1 These data are on the principal offence basis.| -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Number of persons | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Offence description |1997|1998|1999|2000|2001|2002|2003|2004|2005|2006| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Possessing class A |1|—|1|2|—|—|3|3|4|8| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Possessing class B |1|1|—|—|1|—|1|—|—|—| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Possessing class C |1|1|1|1|1|1|1|1|1|3| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Supply class A |—|—|1|—|—|—|—|1|1|—| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Supply class B |1|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Supply class C |—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |1 These data are on the principal offence basis.Note:These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. 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.Source:OMS Analytical Services| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------