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21 Apr 2009 : Column 600W—continued

21 Apr 2009 : Column 601W

21 Apr 2009 : Column 602W

Table 2: N umber of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts of sexual offences against children under the age of 18 years in the North East Region, by gender, and age group 1996 to 2007( 1,)( )( 2,)( )( 3,)( )( 4)
North East Region
	Age group 10 to 17			Age group 18 to 20			Age group 21 and over
	Proceeded against	Found guilty	Conviction rate (%)( 5)	Proceeded against	Found guilty	Conviction rate (%)( 5)	Proceeded against	Found guilty	Conviction rate (%)( 5)
Male
1996	11	2	18	4	1	25	35	25	71
1997	10	5	50	2	1	50	43	18	42
1998	8	2	25	4	1	25	73	21	29
1999	13	1	8	2	1	50	62	26	42
2000	18	2	11	5	—	0	47	12	26
2001	9	4	44	9	1	11	49	16	33
2002	12	2	17	4	2	50	50	16	32
2003	14	3	21	8	—	0	44	15	34
2004	17	6	35	8	—	0	56	23	41
2005	36	10	28	13	5	38	115	58	50
2006	46	24	52	19	14	74	130	80	62
2007	44	20	45	18	6	33	134	79	59
Female
1996	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1997	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1998	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1999	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2000	1	—	0	—	—	—	—	—	—
2001	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	1	100
2002	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2003	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2004	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	—	0
2005	—	—	—	1	—	0	1	—	0
2006	1	—	0	—	—	—	—	1	n/a
2007	—	—	—	—	1	n/a	2	—	0
n/a = not applicable (1) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (3) Data included in the table are from sections within the 2003 Sexual Offences Act which identify the victim as a minor. (4) The Sexual Offences Act 2003 came into force on 1 May 2004, and supersedes previous Acts. (5) Proportion of those proceeded against who were found guilty. Note: The found guilty column may exceed those proceeded against, as it may be the case that the proceedings in the magistrates court took place in the proceeding year and they were found guilty at the Crown court in the following year, or the defendants were found guilty for a different offence to the original offence proceeded against.

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