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9 July 2008 : Column 1616W—continued

Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what percentage of people convicted of having an article with a blade or point under section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 received (a) a fine and (b) a custodial sentence of (i) less than six months, (ii) six to 12 months, (iii) 12 to
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18 months, (iv) 18 to 24 months, (v) two to three years and (vi) four years in each year since the Act was introduced. [217122]

Mr. Straw: The figures in the following tables show those charged with possessing an article with a blade or
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point under section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and show those given (a) a custodial sentence and the length of that custodial sentence and (b) a fine since these offences became available on 1 September 1996.

Number of persons sentenced and percentage given fines and immediate custody for carrying an article with a blade or point
	1996( 1)	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Number sentenced	902	3,360	3.804	3,564	3.562	4,364	5.326	5,399	5,908	6.002	6.334
Number given fines	453	1,181	1.187	1.032	996	1.164	1,356	1,289	1,148	953	691
Percentage given fines	50.2	35.1	31.2	29.0	28.0	26.7	25.5	23.9	19.4	15.9	10.9
Number given immediate custody	56	375	550	536	506	592	773	761	815	970	1,075
Percentage given immediate custody	6.2	11.2	14.5	15.0	14.2	13.6	14.5	14.1	13.8	16.2	17.0
(1) These data are based on the offences of possession of an article with a blade or point on school premises and possession of an article with a blade or point in a public place. Notes 1 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. 2 These offences came into force from 1 September 1996 Source: NOMS Analytical Services, Ministry of Justice, 4 July 2008

Lengths of custodial sentence: number and percentage sentenced
	Number sentenced
	1996( 1)	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Sentence length
0-6 months	55	364	528	521	493	577	736	723	780	910	1,002
6-12 months	0	5	18	11	11	10	29	30	30	50	61
12-18 months	1	6	2	4	1	4	7	5	5	9	9
18-24 months	0	0	2	0	1	1	1	3	0	1	3
2-3 years	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3-4 years	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4+ years	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
(1) These data are based on the offences of possession of an article with a blade or point on school premises and possession of an article with a blade or point in a public place. Notes 1 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. 2 These offences came into force from 1 September 1996 Source: NOMS Analytical Services, Ministry of Justice, 4 July 2008

	Percentage sentenced
	1996( 1)	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Sentence length
0-6 months	6.1	10.8	13.9	14.6	13.8	13.2	13.8	13.4	13.2	15.2	15.8
6-12 months	—	0.1	0.5	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.5	0.6	0.5	0.8	1.0
12-18 months	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.1	—	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
18-24 months	—	—	0.1	—	—	—	—	0.1	—	—	—
2-3 years	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3-4 years	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4+ years	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
(1) These data are based on the offences of possession of an article with a blade or point on school premises and possession of an article with a blade or point in a public place. Notes 1 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. 2 These offences came into force from 1 September 1996 Source: NOMS Analytical Services, Ministry of Justice, 4 July 2008

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