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21 Apr 2008 : Column 1881W—continued

Sentencing

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 31 March 2008,
21 Apr 2008 : Column 1882W
Official Report, column 562W, on sentencing, (1) what the figures in the table represented as a percentage of the total number of people convicted of a third class A drug trafficking offence in each year since 2000; and what the average sentence was of all those convicted of such an offence in each of those years; [199529]

(2) what the figures in the table represented as a percentage of the total number of people convicted of a third domestic burglary offence in each year since 2000; and what the average sentence was of all those convicted of such an offence in each of those years. [199530]

Mr. Hanson: I am unable to answer the questions, because the Courts Proceedings Database does not include criminal histories.

The Courts Proceedings Database does not allow us to identify all those offenders who have committed their third class A drug trafficking offence or third domestic burglary. We can identify those who were given the minimum only through a specific disposal code. To identify all these individuals would require us to extract data from the Police National Computer (PNC). This would take time and we think would not be reliable for drug trafficking as our extract of PNC records police prosecutions only. In addition, the results from the two separate administrative systems may not be directly comparable due to differences in recording practice.

Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what proportion of (a) males and (b) females given prison sentences in each of the last 10 years were aged (i) below 16, (ii) 16 to 18, (iii) 19 to 21, (iv) 22 to 25, (v) 26 to 30, (vi) 31 to 40, (vii) 41 to 50 and (viii) 51 years or over; and if he will make a statement. [200114]

Mr. Hanson: The requested information is contained in the following tables. The data are broken down into the age groups of juveniles (10-17), young adults (18-20) and adults (21+).

For persons aged 21 and over this includes all adult persons where the age has not been reported to the Ministry of Justice.

Statistics for 2007 will be published in the autumn.

Number of persons sentenced( 1) and given immediate custody by age and sex, all courts, England and Wales, 1997 to 2006
Number of persons and percentages
	1997		1998		1999		2000		2001
Age group	Immediate custody	Percentage of total( 2)	Immediate custody	Percentage of total( 2)	Immediate custody	Percentage of total( 2)	Immediate custody	Percentage of total( 2)	Immediate custody	Percentage of total( 2)
Male
10 to 17	6,775	7.7	6,881	7.3	7,244	7.4	6,968	7.1	7,147	7.3
18 to 20	15,143	17.1	16,152	17.2	17,048	17.4	17,324	17.6	16,882	17.2
21 +	66,417	75.2	70,966	75.5	73,527	75.2	73,995	75.3	74,183	75.5
Total	88,335	100	93,999	100	97,819	100	98,287	100	98,212	100
Female
10 to 17	308	5.6	336	5.1	409	5.5	446	5.6	449	5.6
18 to 20	642	11.7	851	13.0	963	12.8	1,117	14.1	1,066	13.2
21 +	4,292	78.0	5,100	77.7	5,767	76.9	5,933	75.1	6,106	75.7
Total	5,506	100	6,567	100	7,504	100	7,900	100	8,061	100

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21 Apr 2008 : Column 1884W

	2002		2003		2004		2005		2006
Age group	Immediate custody	Percentage of total( 2)	Immediate custody	Percentage of total( 2)	Immediate custody	Percentage of total( 2)	Immediate custody	Percentage of total( 2)	Immediate custody	Percentage of total( 2)
Male
10 to 17	6,886	6.7	5,776	5.8	5,881	6.0	5,512	5.9	5,730	6.5
18 to 20	16,290	15.9	14,465	14.6	13,817	14.2	13,351	14.4	13,046	14.8
21 +	79,600	77.4	78,619	79.5	77,870	79.8	74,092	79.7	69,397	78.7
Total	102,776	100	98,860	100	97,568	100	92,955	100	88,173	100
Female
10 to 17	530	6.0	424	4.8	444	5.1	503	6.1	453	5.8
18 to 20	1,073	12.2	973	11.0	819	9.4	880	10.6	851	10.8
21 +	6,750	76.4	6,943	78.8	7,093	81.0	6,545	79.0	6,540	83.4
Total	8,831	100	8,810	100	8,754	100	8,281	100	7,844	100
(1) Principal offence basis. (2 )Percentage of the total number of males and females respectively sentenced for all ages, all courts. 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: RDS-NOMS, Ministry of Justice

Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average age was of (a) males and (b) females given a custodial sentence in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [200115]

Mr. Hanson: All adult offenders where the age has not been reported to the Ministry of Justice are assumed to be age 25. This will create a bias in the calculation of average age and therefore we do not produce figures on this basis.

Sentencing: Young People

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many sentences were given to young offenders, broken down by type of offence, in each of the last 10 years. [199329]

Mr. Hanson: The available information is contained in the table.

Statistics for 2007 will be published in the autumn.

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