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7 Nov 2005 : Column 207W—continued

Conviction Rates

Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the conviction rate for (a) common assault, (b) breach of peace and (c) drunkenness in each of the last five years broken down by district command unit. [22755]

 
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Mr. Hanson: The following tables relate to the years 2000–03 and detail the number of persons prosecuted and convicted at court. The tables are based on the police district command unit in which the offender's address falls. Where numbers are small conviction rates for each DCU are not calculated but the number of prosecutions and convictions are presented, along with the overall conviction rates for each year. Due to changes in the way data is collected figures for 1999 are not directly comparable but table four shows Northern Ireland level prosecutions and convictions for that year, for the three offence categories in question. It should be noted that many offences of common assault, breach of peace and drunkenness may be brought to justice via a police caution rather than via a court prosecution.
Table 1: Number of convictions and conviction rates for common assault offences by police district command unit 2000–03⁽⁶²⁾

	2000		2001		2002		2003
DCU(63)	Number	Rate(64) (percentage)	Number	Rate (64) (percentage)	Number	Rate(64) (percentage)	Number	Rate(64)(percentage)
Antrim	27	71	15	60	19	66	10	67
Ards	18	86	31	69	32	80	28	82
Armagh	12	67	7	100	3	18	8	47
Banbridge	13	68	15	79	8	50	15	54
Belfast East	21	78	26	84	16	84	17	68
Belfast North	31	74	29	67	24	63	24	62
Belfast South	14	82	26	74	14	64	19	83
Belfast West	23	79	17	55	13	54	20	69
Ballymena	23	85	21	88	9	56	21	84
Ballymoney	5	38	4	40	4	50	6	67
Carrickfergus	9	69	5	71	8	57	5	63
Coleraine	23	64	31	66	23	74	17	68
Cookstown	11	65	8	67	9	56	3	20
Craigavon	33	77	29	83	19	53	24	69
Castlereagh	15	71	10	71	9	60	10	48
Dungannon	15	51	12	57	10	67	9	60
Down	19	59	24	71	24	77	24	69
Fermanagh	12	60	18	75	20	74	18	62
Foyle	39	67	33	60	33	69	28	78
Larne	16	76	13	72	18	75	11	61
Limavady	31	84	10	77	23	74	18	86
Lisburn	29	74	32	71	18	72	19	70
Magherafelt	13	65	14	78	8	53	8	47
Moyle	6	60	5	63	2	40	4	57
Newtownabbey	16	67	27	64	8	53	5	50
North Down	21	81	24	67	20	74	20	80
Newry and Mourne	20	57	16	50	18	62	10	43
Omagh	23	79	17	68	23	68	16	59
Strabane	16	73	15	71	27	87	12	100
Missing	9	—	5	—	8	—	3	—
Total	563	70	539	68	470	67	432	66

⁽⁶²⁾ Common assault offences include: common assault, common assault on adult, and common assault on a child/ young person.
⁽⁶³⁾ Data are based on the police district command unit in which an offender's address falls. Police district command units became operational in April 2001. However, for the purposes of comparability, calendar year 2000 data are also disaggregated by DCU, rather than police division. Missing data relate to those offenders for which DCU information is not available.
⁽⁶⁴⁾ The conviction rate is based on the number of persons found guilty out of those brought to court for the offence. Caution is recommended when interpreting rates, due to small numbers in some categories.



Table 2: Number of prosecutions and convictions for breach of peace offences by police district command unit 2000–03^{(65)(5508300066)}

	2000		2001
DCU(67)	Prosecuted	Convicted	Prosecuted	Convicted
Antrim	4	4	1	1
Ards	1	1	1	1
Armagh	0	0	2	2
Banbridge	4	4	4	4
Belfast East	4	3	3	3
Belfast North	12	10	11	4
Belfast South	3	3	2	2
Belfast West	11	10	3	3
Ballymena	13	8	2	2
Ballymoney	2	1	0	0
Carrickfergus	1	1	0	0
Coleraine	0	0	5	4
Cookstown	0	0	I	0
Craigavon	7	5	2	2
Castlereagh	1	1	2	1
Dungannon	6	1	1	2
Down	0	0	0	0
Fermanagh	4	1	2	0
Foyle	20	9	14	12
Larne	3	3	3	3
Limavady	6	1	4	4
Lisburn	2	1	6	3
Magherafelt	4	3	3	3
Moyle	0	0	0	0
Newtownabbey	4	3	3	0
Nortli Down	4	4	0	0
Newry and Mourne	9	4	2	1
Omagh	3	1	0	0
Strabane	1	1	7	5
Missing	4	—	0	0
Total	133	85 (64%)	90	62 (69%)

 
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	2002		2003
DCU(67)	Prosecuted	Convicted	Prosecuted	Convicted
Antrim	0	0	3	3
Ards	1	0	0	0
Armagh	0	0	0	0
Banbridge	0	0	3	0
Belfast East	2	1	0	0
Belfast North	9	7	8	6
Belfast South	1	0	1	1
Belfast West	2	2	4	3
Ballymena	21	1	8	8
Ballymoney	6	1	1	1
Carrickfergus	0	0	3	3
Coleraine	5	4	2	1
Cookstown	0	0	2	0
Craigavon	1	1	3	3
Castlereagh	0	0	0	0
Dungannon	3	1	2	0
Down	0	0	0	0
Fermanagh	3	2	0	0
Foyle	12	7	12	10
Larne	9	3	1	1
Limavady	2	1	0	0
Lisburn	1	1	1	1
Magherafelt	1	1	2	0
Moyle	0	0	1	1
Newtownabbey	1	1	0	0
Nortli Down	1	0	1	1
Newry and Mourne	4	1	0	0
Omagh	3	2	0	0
Strabane	1	0	2	2
Missing	0	0	0	0
Total	89	37 (42%)	60	45 (75%)

⁽⁶⁵⁾ Breach of the peace offences include behaviour likely to cause breach of the peace, and behaviour likely to cause breach of peace on licensed premises.
⁽⁶⁶⁾ Due to the very small numbers in most cells, a conviction rate (based on the number of persons found guilty out of those brought to court for the offence) has not been calculated for each DCU; however, an overall conviction rate is shown for each calendar year.
⁽⁶⁷⁾ Data are based on the police district command unit in which an offender's address falls. Police district command units became operational in April 2001. However, for the purposes of comparability, calendar year 2000 data are also disaggregated by DCU, rather than police division. Missing data relate to those offenders for which DCU information is not available.



Table 3: Number of prosecutions and convictions for drunkenness of fences by police district command unit 2000–2003^{(68)(5508300069)}

	2000		2001
DCU(70)	Prosecuted	Convicted	Prosecuted	Convicted
Antrim	0	0	1	0
Ards	12	12	9	8
Armagh	1	1	1	1
Banbridge	0	0	3	3
Belfast East	4	4	2	2
Belfast North	8	8	7	5
Belfast South	5	5	7	6
Belfast West	4	2	3	2
Ballymena	2	2	9	8
Ballymoney	4	3	0	0
Carrickfergus	0	0	0	0
Coleraine	6	5	1	1
Cookstown	1	1	2	1
Craigavon	2	2	1	1
Castlereagh	1	1	0	0
Dungannon	0	0	3	2
Down	5	5	1	1
Fermanagh	7	7	4	4
Foyle	7	6	1	1
Lame	1	1	0	0
Limavady	2	2	0	0
Lisburn	1	0	0	0
Magherafelt	1	0	2	2
Moyle	2	2	1	1
Newtownabbey	2	2	1	1
North Down	1	1	3	3
Newry and Mourne	1	1	4	4
Omagh	0	0	2	2
Strabane	4	4	3	2
Missing	1	1	3	3
Total	85	78 (92%)	74	64 (86%)

 
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	2002		2003
DCU(70)	Prosecuted	Convicted	Prosecuted	Convicted
Antrim	0	0	1	0
Ards	1	1	1	1
Armagh	0	0	1	1
Banbridge	2	1	0	0
Belfast East	0	0	0	0
Belfast North	6	5	2	2
Belfast South	0	0	3	3
Belfast West	0	0	1	1
Ballymena	3	3	4	4
Ballymoney	1	1	0	0
Carrickfergus	0	0	0	0
Coleraine	4	4	1	1
Cookstown	0	0	2	1
Craigavon	0	0	0	0
Castlereagh	1	1	2	1
Dungannon	0	0	2	2
Down	0	0	2	2
Fermanagh	2	2	1	1
Foyle	4	2	0	0
Lame	0	0	0	0
Limavady	1	1	0	0
Lisburn	0	0	2	2
Magherafelt	0	0	0	0
Moyle	0	0	0	0
Newtownabbey	1	1	0	0
North Down	1	1	1	0
Newry and Mourne	1	1	3	3
Omagh	9	7	6	4
Strabane	2	1	0	0
Missing	2	2	1	1
Total	41	34 (83%)	36	30 (83%)

⁽⁶⁸⁾ Drunkenness offences include simple drunk, drunk and disorderly, drunk in charge of animal, entering an aircraft when drunk, being drunk when in aircraft, drunk in charge of child, being drunk in licensed premises. Offences relating to drink under road traffic legislation are excluded.
⁽⁶⁹⁾ Due to the very small numbers in most cells, a conviction rate (based on the number of persons found guilty out of those brought to court for the offence) has not been calculated for each DCU; however, an overall conviction rate is shown for each calendar year.
⁽⁷⁰⁾ Data are based on the police district command unit in which an offender's address falls. Police district command units became operational in April 2001. However, for the purposes of comparability, calendar year 2000 data are also disaggregated by DCU, rather than police division. Missing data relate to those offenders for which DCU information is not available.



 
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Table 4: Number of prosecutions, convictions and conviction rates for common assault, breach of peace and drunkenness offences—1999

Offence	Prosecutions	Convictions	Conviction rate(74) (percentage)
Common assaults(71)	1,086	814	75
Breach of peace(72)	205	157	77
Drunkenness(73)	165	141	85

⁽⁷¹⁾ Common assault offences include: common assault, common assault on adult, and common assault on a child/young person.
⁽⁷²⁾ Breach of the peace offences include behaviour likely to cause breach of the peace, and behaviour likely to cause breach of peace on licensed premises.
⁽⁷³⁾ Drunkenness offences include simple drunk, drunk and disorderly, drunk in charge of animal, entering an aircraft when drunk, being drunk when in aircraft, drunk in charge of child, being drunk in licensed premises. Offences relating to drink under road traffic legislation are excluded.
⁽⁷⁴⁾ The conviction rate is based on the number of persons found guilty out of those brought to court for the offence.

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