Details

This report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending December 2024 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer-term trends.

Statistician’s comment

Continuing the recent trend, 2024 saw increases in the volumes of prosecutions and convictions at criminal courts. Prosecutions for theft presented the largest annual increase, followed by violence against the person and drugs offences. Prosecutions for sexual offences rose for the 6th consecutive year and represents a series high.

In the case of the more serious indictable offences, conviction levels are now at their highest since 2017.

The proportion of defendants dealt with for serious indictable offences who were remanded in custody continued to rise, with levels reaching a series peak in the magistrates’ courts.

Average custodial sentence length fell slightly for both indictable offences and all offences, driven in part by an increased proportion of conviction and custodial sentences being for theft offences which attract shorter sentence lengths but also a reduction in average sentences for some offence groups.

Crown Court data development (“One Crown”)

Recently MoJ and HMCTS worked together on the https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67e298ced4a1b0665b8ee1fe/Consultation_on_One_Crown_changes_to_the_Crown_Court_data_processing_in_CCSQ.docx" class="govuk-link">“One Crown” data project to create a single, consistent and flexible dataset that meets both MoJ and HMCTS needs. This is intended to bring greater transparency, clarity and coherence for all users of the Criminal Court Statistics series.

In the coming months we plan to move the Criminal Justice System statistics to the One Crown data model. Historically the two MoJ published series have been produced independently from distinct pipelines which is inefficient and risks undermining the transparency between the two publications. Moving to the same data model will improve the coherence and provide a clearer read across for users of the two CJS statistical series and our understanding of the underlying administrative systems.

Moving to the One Crown model will require a large amount of work in a short period of time. For this reason, we will be cancelling the planned publication of the CJS statistics to Q1 2025 in August 2025. We expect to bring forward the publication of CJS statistics by a month and publish Q2 2025 in October 2025 rather than November 2025. This change will be made to all subsequent releases and will ensure more timely release of CJS data.

Contents

1. Statistican’s comment

2. Knife and offensive weapon offences overview

3. Sentencing

4. Offending History

5. Sentencing under the Sentencing Act 2020

6. Further information

7. Future publications and contact details for any queries or feedback

8. Pre-release access

This publication presents key statistics describing the trends in the number of offenders receiving cautions and convictions for

• possession of an article with a blade or point

• possession of an offensive weapon, or

• threatening with either type of weapon

in England and Wales. Please note that cases still awaiting final decisions are no longer accounted for using estimation methodology. These are generally cases in the latest periods and are now counted as ‘other’ disposals until final decisions are made unless separately specified.

Accompanying files

As well as this bulletin, the following products are published as part of this release:

• ODS format tables containing data on knife or offensive weapon offences up to December 2022

• An interactive table tool to look at previous offences involving possession of a blade, point or offensive weapon. The tool provides further breakdowns by gender, police identified ethnicity and prosecuting police force area. The data used in the tool is also included as a separate csv file.

• An interactive https://moj-analytical-services.github.io/knife_possession_sankey/index.html" class="govuk-link">Sankey diagram looking at outcomes for offenders sentenced for these offences by whether or not they have a previous conviction or caution for possession of a blade, point or offensive weapon; which includes breakdowns by gender, age group and offence type.

Main points

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This ad hoc publication provides analysis of increases in the Average Custodial Sentence Length (ACSL) between 2010 and 2023. The analysis uses published MoJ data to examine how changes in offences coming before the courts, changes in the length of custodial sentences being handed down, and changes in the proportion of offenders being sent to custody impact the overall ACSL. This is an ad hoc publication and no further releases of this data are planned.

Contents

1. Statistican’s comment

2. Knife and offensive weapon offences overview

3. Sentencing

4. Offending History

5. Sentencing under section 28 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act (CJCA) 2015

6. Further information

7. Future publications and contact details for any queries or feedback

8. Pre-release access

This publication presents key statistics describing the trends in the number of offenders receiving cautions and convictions for

• possession of an article with a blade or point

• possession of an offensive weapon, or

• threatening with either type of weapon

in England and Wales. It should be noted that figures for the latest year have been estimated and should be treated as provisional. Please refer to the technical guide for further details.

Accompanying files

As well as this bulletin, the following products are published as part of this release:

• ODS format tables containing data on knife or offensive weapon offences up to March 2020

• An interactive table tool to look at previous offences involving possession of a blade, point or offensive weapon. The tool provides further breakdowns by gender, police identified ethnicity and prosecuting police force area. The data used in the tool is also included as a separate csv file.

• An interactive https://moj-analytical-services.github.io/knife_possession_sankey/index.html" class="govuk-link">Sankey diagram looking at outcomes for offenders sentenced for these offences by whether or not they have a previous conviction or caution for possession of a blade, point or offensive weapon; which includes breakdowns by gender, age group and offence type.

Main points

(back to top)

1. Statistician’s comment

The number of knife and offensive weapon offences dealt with by the Criminal Justice System (CJS) has b

Earlier editions: Criminal Justice Statistics in England and Wales

This report presents the key trends from October 2011 to September 2012 for activity in the criminal justice system (CJS) for England and Wales.

Main findings

Overview of the criminal justice system in 12 months ending September 2012

In the 12 months ending September 2012, there were 1.86 million individuals given an out of court disposal or proceeded against at court. This compares with 2.03 million individuals in the 12 months ending September 2011, a decline of 8.4 per cent.

This consisted of a 13.0 per cent fall in the use of out of court disposals (from 444,400 to 386,900) and a 7.1 per cent fall in the number of defendants proceeded against at court (from 1,583,400 to 1,471,300).

Out of court disposals

Since the 12 months ending September 2008, the use of out of court disposals has decreased by 38.0 per cent (from 624,400 to 386,900 in the 12 months ending September 2012). The decline in the use of out of court disposals coincided with the replacement in April 2008 of a target to increase offences brought to justice, with one placing more emphasis on bringing serious crime to justice. The latter target was subsequently removed in May 2010.

Police cautions

There were 205,700 cautions administered in the 12 months ending September 2012.

• This represents a 12.5 per cent decrease compared with the 12 months ending September 2011 (235,000) and a 44.0 per cent fall on the 367,300 administered in the 12 months ending September 2007, when the use of cautions peaked.

Penalty Notices for Disorder (PNDs)_

There were 109,600 PNDs issued in 12 months ending September 2012.

This was 15.8 per cent fewer than the 130,300 issued in the same period of the previous year and 48.9 per cent fewer than the peak of 214,400 issued in 12 months ending September 2007, a downtrend trend similar to that observed with the use of cautions.

Court proceedings

In the 12 months ending September 2012, there were 1.47 million defendants proceeded against in magistrates’ courts and 1.23 million offenders convicted and sentenced of a criminal offence at all courts.

Prosecutions and convictions peaked in the 12 months ending September 2004, and have since fallen by 28.6 per cent and 21.5 per cent respectively. These falls have largely been driven by declines in proceedings for summary non motoring and summary motoring offences.

For the more serious indictable offences, prosecutions have fallen by 26.5 per cent since September 2002. The number of convictions for indictable offences have remained broadly flat over the same period, resulting in a rise in the conviction ratio from 65.3 per cent in the 12 months ending September 2002 to 82.6 per in the 12 months ending September 2012 - the highest ratio in 11 years.

Sentencing

Immediate custody

Of the 1.23 million offenders sentenced during the 12 months ending September 2012, there were 97,500 persons sentenced to immediate custody, a decrease of 4.7 per cent from 102,300 persons in the same period a year earlier and 12.6 per cent lower than the peak of 111,500 persons sentenced in the 12 months ending September 2002.

In the 12 months ending September 2012, the Average Custodial Sentence Length (ACSL) was 14.9 months, an increase of 0.6 months compared to the 12 months ending September 2011, and up from 2.5 months in the 12 months ending September 2002. The rise in ACSL has been driven by the change in the case mix of people getting custodial sentences and longer sentences for indictable offences.

Fines

Fines are the most common sentence passed at court, accounting for around two-thirds of all sentences handed out by the criminal courts (66.5 per cent in the 12 months ending September 2012). The fine rate is consistent with that seen in the same period for the previous year, and has declined from a peak of 70.3 per cent in the 12 months ending September 2004. The decline has been due to a decline in prosecutions and subsequent conviction for summary motoring offences - the offence type for which fines are most commonly given

The latest figure of 816,600 fines represents a decrease of 5. 2 per cent compared to the 12 months ending September 2011, and the lowest number of fines handed out over the last 11 years.

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The report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending March 2020 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer term trends.

Please note that the decision has been made to delay the offending histories and out of court disposals components of this publication. In line with https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Regulatory-guidance_changing-methods_Coronavirus.pdf" class="govuk-link">guidance from the Office for Statistics Regulation, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused MoJ to have to change its data gathering, access and release practices, focusing efforts on priority analysis and statistics. In particular, we paused access to the Police National Computer, on which these components rely, to minimise non-essential travel by our analysts. We will keep users updated of any further changes via our published release calendar. We will be publishing a response to our February consultation on changes to the frequency and timing of the offending histories components, setting out when these will be published in the future.

Statistician’s comment:

The number of defendants prosecuted has fallen over the last decade and figures published today continue that trend, with a slight decrease in the year ending March 2020. The figures released today cover the period to the end of March 2020 and any COVID-19 impacts, for example on the level of prosecutions, are likely to be small. For more information about COVID-19 impacts on courts, see the HMCTS regular management information publication: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmcts-management-information.

There have been increases in prosecutions for some of the most serious offence groups in the latest year, in particular violence, drug offences, robbery and sexual offences. The increase in prosecutions and convictions for violence continue to be driven by the legislation that introduced the new offence of ‘assaults on emergency workers’ from November 2018, while the increases for other offences groups are driven by an increase in charges brought forward by the police.

The publication also shows the different pattern for custody rates across offences – with a continued increase in custody rates for the most serious, indictable, offences, alongside a reduction in rates for summary offences. Average custodial sentence lengths continue to rise and were the highest in a decade. Although we often consider crimes to correlate with prosecutions, we would not expect prosecutions to move directly in line with the ONS published police recorded crime series, or Crime Survey for England and Wales as only those crimes that result in a charge are likely to flow into courts – in addition criminal court prosecutions cover a much broader range of offences than police recorded crime or the survey.

Pre-release access

The bulletin is produced and handled by the ministry’s analytical professionals and production staff. Pre-release access of up to 24 hours is granted to the following persons:

Ministry of Justice

Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice; Minister of State for Prisons and Probation; 2 Parliamentary Under Secretary of States; Lords spokesperson; Principal Private Secretary; Deputy Principal Private Secretary; 3 Private Secretaries; 4 Assistant Private Secretaries; Permanent Secretary; Head of Permanent Secretary’s Office; Special Advisor; Head of News; 2 Deputy Heads of News; 3 Press Officers; Director, Family and Criminal Justice Policy; Director of Data and Analytical Services; Chief Statistician; Director General, Policy, Communications and Analysis Group; Deputy Director, Bail, Sentencing and Release Policy; Section Head, Criminal Court Policy; Director, Offender and Youth Justice Policy; Statistician, Youth Justice Board; Data Analyst, Youth Justice Board; Deputy Director, Crime; Crime Service Manager (Case Progression) - Courts and Tribunals Development; Deputy Director, Legal Operations - Courts & Tribunals Development Directorate; Head of Criminal Law policy; 2 Policy Managers – Youth Courts and Sentencing; 6 Policy Advisors; 2 Justice Statistics analysts; Head of Data Innovation, Analysis and Linking; Head of PNC/Offender Histories Analysis; Head of Criminal Courts Statistics.

Home Office

Home Secretary; Private Secretary to the Home Secretary; Deputy Principal Private Secretary to the Home Secretary; Permanent Secretary, Home Office; Assistant Private Secretary to the Home Office Permanent Secretary; Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Service; Assistant Private Secretary

This report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending September 2022 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer-term trends.

Statistician’s comment:

The figures published today, for year ending September 2022, demonstrate the continued recovery of the Criminal Justice System (CJS) since the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the possible impact of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) action from April, which concluded in the autumn.

Prosecutions and convictions have increased in the latest year, however, they both remained below pre-pandemic levels. The increase in the latest year was driven by summary offences, while prosecutions for indictable offences decreased. For indictable offences, the only offence group to show an increase in prosecutions and convictions was sexual offences.

The custody rate for indictable offences has risen to levels seen pre-pandemic at 32% in the latest year, after a fall in the year ending September 2021. The average custodial sentence length (ACSL) for indictable offences has continued to rise from 24.0 months in the year ending September 2021 to 24.8 months in the latest year.

This report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending March 2022 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer-term trends.

Statistician’s comment:

The figures published today, for year ending March 2022, continued to be influenced by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on criminal court prosecutions and outcomes. The Criminal Justice System (CJS) is continuing to recover - prosecutions have increased by 27% in the latest year but remain 14% lower compared to pre-pandemic levels. Convictions have also increased in the latest year, by 31%, though they are down by 13% since the year ending March 2020. While the number of people convicted for most offence groups have fallen over the last two years, they have risen for violence and sexual offences in each of the last two years.

The custody rate for indictable offences has fallen slightly in the latest year to 32%. However, for those serious cases resulting in custody, average custodial sentence length continues to increase to a high of 25.7 months for indictable offences. This has increased year-on-year (from 16.8 in 2012), with the only decrease in year ending March 2021 likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It covers flows into these services (receptions into prison or probation starts) and flows out (discharges from prison or probation terminations) as well as the caseload of both services at specific points in time. Latest figures for the quarter April to June 2013 are provided compared to the same period in 2012 for each topic as well as reference to longer term trends, with the exception of the prison population where more recent data is available (30 September 2013).

The contents of the report will be of interest to the public, government policy makers, the agencies responsible for offender management at both national and local levels, and others who want to understand more about the prison population, probation caseload, licence recalls and returns to custody.

Prison population

The prison population grew rapidly between 1993 to 2008 – an average of 4% a year. This rapid rise was driven by:

• Increased numbers of people sentenced to immediate custody from 1993 to 2002.
• Increases in the average custodial sentence length and increased use of indeterminate sentences.
• Increase in numbers recalled to prison following breaches of the conditions of licence and these offenders spending longer in prison once recalled.

The rise in the prison population slowed considerably from the summer of 2008, in part due to the introduction of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act (CJIA) 2008, which changed sentencing and offender management in ways which helped to reduce growth in the prison population. For more information, see http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/criminal-justice-bill.htm" class="govuk-link">CJIA 2008.

This flatter trend continued until the public disorder seen in UK cities from 6 to 9 August 2011 which had an immediate but temporary impact on the prison population. During 2012 and into 2013, the prison population began to fall due to a falling remand population and a continued decline in the number of under 18s in custody. The falling remand population during 2012 reflected falling volumes going through the courts plus the introduction, in December 2012, of measures restricting the use of remand for offenders who would be unlikely to receive a custodial sentence .

Over the most recent quarter (between 30 June and 30 September 2013), the prison population increased, due to a relatively large rise in the remand population which may be the result of changes to court committals.

The ‘Story of the Prison Population 1993 to 2012’ is an in-depth look at what happened to the prison population between 1993 and 2012 and the major factors contributing to the changes.

The prison population at 30 September 2013 was 84,488, a decrease of 1,969 (2%) compared to 30 September 2012 when the total population was 86,457.

This overall fall in the prison population was seen for males and females, and in both the remand and sentenced populations. However within the year-on-year fall, there are some changing trends within the year, particularly within the remand population.

Between September 2012 and September 2013, the remand population fell by 3%. Looking across the year, the remand population fell throughout much of 2012 reflecting falling volumes going through the courts. The introduction, in December 2012, of measures restricting the use of remand for offenders who would be unlikely to receive a custodial sentence further reduced the remand population. By February 2013, the full impact of these measures had been realised and the remand population then remained relatively stable until the end of August 2013 when it began to rise. The rise since end August may be the result of changes to court committals.

The sentenced population also fell by 3% over the last year with falls across every age group: adults (age 21+) down 2%; young adults (18-20) down 18%; and 15-17 year olds down a third. This is consistent with trends in prison receptions where we have seen falling numbers of males and females entering prison to serve a sentence.

Within the adult sentenced population, the numbers serving long determinate sentences of 4 years or more continued to rise, while the numbers serving shorter sentences continued to fall. Over 40% of the increase in long determinate sentences was due to the introduction of the new Extended Determinate Sentence (EDS) (see paragraph below) - 462 offenders were serving such a sentence as at 30 September 2013.

The number of prisoners serving indeterminate sentences (either a life sentence or an Indeterminate Sentence for Public Protection – an IPP) continued to fall with the IPP and life sentence populations falling by 9% and 2% respectively. This reflects the sent

We are planning to make changes to this publication and a consultation on ‘Changes to criminal justice statistics’ publication was held between 20 November 2014 and 22 January 2015.

Response to consultation on changes to Criminal justice statistics publication

The report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system (CJS) for England and Wales. It provides information for the latest 12 months (October 2013 to September 2014) with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer term trends.

Key findings

Number of individuals formally dealt with by the CJS is lowest on record (1970 to date).

• The use of out of court disposals is now less than half of the peak, in year ending September 2007 and decreased 16% in the latest year.
• Conviction ratio has remained relatively stable since year ending September 2009 (following on from an increase in the 5 years preceding this). In latest year it was 83% compared to 82% in previous year.
• Average Custodial Sentence Length continues to increase since September 2006. In the latest period it was 15.8 months compared with 12.3 months in year ending September 2006.
• Immediate custody rate for indictable offences (just under 28%) is highest in decade and has increased in each of the last four years.
• Number of first time entrants formally dealt with by CJS continues to decline. 52% decline since year ending September 2007.
• Number of offenders with no previous convictions or cautions sentenced for indictable offences has increased by 4% in 12 months ending September 2014.
• 18% increase in latest year in number of adult offenders given suspended sentences despite 15+ previous cautions or convictions.
• Prosecutions for sexual offences are the highest in the decade and increased by 11% in the latest year.

The bulletin is produced and handled by the ministry’s analytical professionals and production staff. Pre-release access of up to 24 hours is granted to the following persons.

Ministry of Justice

Secretary of State for Justice; Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Minister for Prisons, Probation and Rehabilitation; Minister of State for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims; Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Minister for the Courts and Legal Aid; Minister of State for Justice and Civil Liberties; Permanent Secretary; 2 Special Advisors; 2 Director Generals; Director Crime; Director, Analytical Services; Chief Statistician; Director, Sentencing and Rehabilitation; Senior Policy Official, Sentencing; Policy Official, Sentencing; Policy Official, Out of court disposals; Policy Official, Youth Justice; Head of News; 3 press officers; 2 private secretaries; 8 assistant private secretaries.

Home Office

Home Secretary; Permanent Secretary; Director of Crime; 1 press officer; Chief Statistician; policy official, Policing and Crime; 1 private secretary.

The Judiciary

Lord Chief Justice; Head of Lord Chief Justice’s Criminal Justice Team.

Other

Policy Official, Attorney Generals Office; Policy Advisor, Cabinet Office.

This publication provides key statistics relating to offenders who are in prison or under Probation Service supervision. It covers flows into these services (receptions into prison or probation starts) and flows out (discharges from prison or probation terminations) as well as the caseload of both services at specific points in time. Latest figures for the quarter January to March 2013 are provided compared to the same period in 2012 for each topic as well as reference to longer term trends, with the exception of the prison population where more recent data is available (30 June 2013).

The contents of the report will be of interest to the public, government policy makers, the agencies responsible for offender management at both national and local levels, and others who want to understand more about the prison population, probation caseload, licence recalls and returns to custody.

Prison population

The prison population grew rapidly between 1993 to 2008 – an average of 4 per cent a year. This rapid rise was driven by:

• Increased numbers of people sentenced to immediate custody from 1993 to 2002.
• Increases in the average custodial sentence length and increased use of indeterminate sentences.
• Increase in numbers recalled to prison following breaches of the conditions of licence and these offenders spending longer in prison once recalled.

The rise in the prison population slowed considerably from the summer of 2008 with an average annual increase of 1 per cent (Figure 1.1), until the public disorder seen in UK cities from 6 to 9 August 2011 which had an immediate impact on the prison population.

The flatter trend prior to the disorder partly reflected the introduction of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act (CJIA) 2008, which changed sentencing and offender management in ways which helped to reduce growth in the prison population. For more information, see http://www.justice.gov.uk/youth-justice/courts-and-orders/criminal-justice-and-immigration-act/criminal-justice-and-immigration-act-custodial-sentence-provisions" class="govuk-link">CJIA 2008.

Other factors, over and above the direct impact of the 2011 public disorder, contributed to an increased prison population for a temporary period which now appears to be over. The falling remand population, and continued decline in the number of under-18s in custody during 2012 and into 2013, mean that the prison population is now tracking between the low and medium projections.

The Story of the Prison Population 1993 to 2012 provides an in-depth examination of what happened to the prison population between 1993 and 2012 and the major factors contributing to the changes in the prison population.

The prison population at 30 June 2013 was 83,842, a decrease of 2,206 (3 per cent) compared to 30 June 2012 when the total population was 86,048.

At 30 June 2013, there were:

• 79,989 males in prison - a fall of 2 per cent over the year
• 3,853 females in prison - a fall of 7 per cent over the year

The overall decrease in the total prison population over the last year (30 June 2012 to 30 June 2013) comprised decreases in both the remand and the sentenced segments of the prison population.

The remand population fell by 3 per cent, driven entirely by the fall in the convicted unsentenced population (down 12 per cent), while the untried population rose 1 per cent. However this 1 per cent rise in the untried population was due to a ‘day of the week effect’ – 30 June 2013 was a Sunday, and the remand population on a Sunday is typically higher than on any other day of the week as prisoners continue to enter prison on remand, but no other court hearings take place. If 30 June 2013 had fallen on any other day of the week, it is likely the year on year change would instead have been around a 1 per cent fall. A 1 per cent fall would still be a change from recent trends. In recent quarters we have seen much larger falls in the untried population partly reflecting falling volumes going through the courts, and partly reflecting the introduction, in December 2012, of measures restricting the use of remand for offenders who would be unlikely to receive a custodial sentence . It is likely that the full impact of these remand measures has now been realised, contributing to the much flatter trend in the latest quarter.

The sentenced population fell by 2,329, or 3 per cent, over the last year. All age groups saw a fall with adults (age 21+) down 1,082 or 2 per cent; young adults (18-20) down 934 or 16 per cent; and 15-17 year olds down almost a third, falling by 313, to 682. Similar patterns were seen in both the male and female pop

Biennial statistics on the representation of sex groups as victims, suspects, defendants offenders and employees in the Criminal Justice System (CJS).

These reports are released by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and produced in accordance with arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

Introduction

The ‘Statistics on Women and the Criminal Justice System 2017’ bulletin is a compendium of statistics from data sources across the CJS to provide a combined perspective on the typical experiences of males and females who come into contact with it. It brings together information on representation by sex among victims, suspects, defendants, offenders and practitioners within the CJS and considers how these experiences have changed over time and how they contrast to the typical experiences of males. No causative links can be drawn from these summary statistics, and no controls have been applied to account for differences in circumstances between the males and females (e.g. offence, average income or age); differences observed may indicate areas worth further investigation, but should not be taken as evidence of unequal treatments or as direct effects of sex. In general, females appear to be substantially underrepresented throughout the CJS compared with males. This is particularly true in relation to the most serious offence types and sentences, though patterns by sex vary between individual offences.

Key findings

Victimisation

• Males are more likely to be victims of a personal crime than females. 4.4% of males reported being a victim of a personal crime in 2017/18, while 3.5% of females reported victimisation. Overall personal crime rates continue to decrease, with a decrease of 1.9 percentage points for males, females and overall since 2011.
• In 2017/18, 7.9% of females reported experiencing domestic abuse in the last year, compared to 4.2% of males. The proportion of females who were a victim of domestic abuse at some point since the age of 16 was over twice the size of the proportion of males, with 28.9% of females reporting this compared to 13.2% of males.
• There were 613 homicide victims in 2016/17 excluding the Hillsborough disaster, of which, 71% were male and 29% were female. There was an 8% increase in homicide victims (excluding Hillsborough) since 2015/16 (25% increase when Hillsborough victims were included).

Police activity

• The majority (85%) of arrests continue to be accounted for by males in 2017/18. The number of arrests has decreased by 8% overall compared to 2016/17, and by 8% for males and 11% for females.
• Higher proportions of females in contact with Liaison and Diversion Services had mental health needs than males. 69% of adult females had mental health needs compared to 61% of adult males, where depressive illness was the most common need. In young people, 51% of females had mental health needs compared to 41% of males, where emotional and behavioural issues was the most common need.
• The proportion of offenders issued Penalty Notices for Disorder (PND) and cautions has decreased over the last 5 years, the proportion issued to males and females has remained stable. Compared to 2013, the number of PNDs issued has fallen by 69% to 25,900; 78% of which were issued to males and 22% issued to females. The number of offenders issued cautions has decreased by 54% to 83,300 when compared to 2013; of those cautioned, 77% were male and 23% were female.

Defendants

• In 2017, 74% of defendants prosecuted were male, and 26% were female. The number of prosecutions of male defendants declined steadily over the past decade by 32% (from 1.4 million in 2007 to 936,000 in 2017), while the number of female defendants decreased by 4% between 2007 and 2017.
• The conviction ratio in 2017 was higher for female (88%) than male (86%) offenders, a trend that is consistent over the past decade. Since 2007, the conviction ratio for females increased from 84% to 88% in 2017. Males followed a similar trend with a conviction ratio of 81% in 2007 to 86% in 2017.
• The custody rate was higher for male offenders in each year of the last decade. Males had a higher custody rate for indictable offences (34%) than females (20%). Females were 43% less likely to be sentenced to custody for indictable offences, relative to males.
• Average custodial sentence length (ACSL) for male offenders in 2017 was 17.6 months, and 10.0 months for females. This is driven in part by a higher proportion of female offenders receiving shorter sentence lengths of up to and including three months (57%), compared with 35% of male offenders. Offenders under supervision or in custody
• At 30 June 2018, 95% of all prisoners were male