NCJ Number
218849
Date Published
January 2007
Length
220 pages
Annotation
This annual report contains comprehensive sentencing information for England and Wales for the year 2005 in the areas of sentencing trends, custodial sentences, community sentences, fines and other disposals, regional trends, and criminal histories.
Abstract
Highlights of the report include: (1) the total number of offenders sentenced in 2005 was 1,482,500, a reduction of 4 percent over 2004; (2) the total number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody increased by 27 percent from 79,500 in 1995 to 101,200 in 2005; (3) the average custodial sentence lengths for indictable offences at the Crown Court increased by 25 percent from 20.8 months in 1995 to 25.9 months in 2005; (4) the total number of community sentences saw a steady increase from 1995 to 2005 with the number increasing by 57 percent from 129,000 to 204,200 during this period; (5) in 2005, community sentences were most often imposed for common assault, theft from shops, driving while disqualified, driving with alcohol in the blood above prescribed limit and criminal damage at magistrates’ courts; (6) the number of offenders fined for all offenses dropped from 996,700 in 1995 to 930,100 in 2001 and peaked in 2004 at 1,082,700; (7) the number sentenced for all offenses at all courts decreased across most criminal justice areas; and (8) the majority of those coming to court had previous convictions or cautions, and in the 2005 sample, only 12 percent of offenders had no previous record of a conviction or caution remaining steady over recent years. Figures, tables and appendixes 1-6