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9 July 2008 : Column 1614W—continued

Number given custodial sentences
Sentence length	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
0-6 months	361	447	540	500	545	582	701	666	739	717	654
6-12 months	30	39	35	39	38	36	60	65	60	85	88
12-18 months	9	15	9	6	10	14	19	18	13	15	27
18-24 months	1	8	4	8	4	4	6	7	6	11	13
2-3 years	1	2	2	1	4	1	5	7	3	2	6
3-4 years	—	2	—	3	—	—	1	1	—	1	1
4+ years	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	(1)1	(1)2

Percentage given custodial sentences
Sentence length	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
0-6 months	10.4	10.8	12.3	12.0	13.2	11.9	12.8	12.3	12.8	12.5	11.5
6-12 months	0.9	0.9	0.8	0.9	0.9	0.7	1.1	1.2	1.0	1.5	1.6
12-18 months	0.3	0.4	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.5
18-24 months	0.0	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.2
2-3 years	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.1
3-4 years	—	0.0	—	0.1	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	0.0	0.0
4+ years	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.0	0.0
0.0 = Less than 0.1 per cent. (1) Indeterminate sentence for public protection. Notes: 1. These data are based on offences under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 of possession of an offensive weapon on school premises and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place. 2. 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: NOMS Analytical Services, Ministry of Justice.

Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what percentage of people convicted of encouraging violent behaviour involving the use of a knife under the Knives Act 1997 received (a) a fine and (b) a custodial sentence of (i) less than six months, (ii) six to 12 months, (iii) 12 to 18 months and (iv) 18 to 24 months in each year since the Act was introduced. [217120]

Mr. Straw: The following tables show the number of people sentenced under the Knives Act 1997 for encouraging or promoting the use of knives in combat or for violence and the numbers and percentage that received (a) a fine and (b) a custodial sentence and the length of that custodial sentence in the last five years.

Number of persons sentenced and percentage given fines and immediate custody for encouraging violent behaviour involving the use of a knife 1996—2006
	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Number sentenced	0	1	2	0	2	0	2	0	1	1	3
Number given fines	0	1	1	0	2	0	1	0	0	1	0
Percentage given fines	—	100	50	—	100	—	50	—	—	100	—
Number given immediate custody	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
Percentage given immediate custody	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	66.6

Lengths of custodial sentence—numbers and percentage sentenced
Number sentenced
Sentence length	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
0—6 months	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2
6—12 Months	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
12—18 Months	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
18—24 Months	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2—3 Years	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3—4 Years	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4+ Years	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

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