This is an Official Statistics bulletin produced by statisticians in the Ministry of Justice, Home Office and the Office for National Statistics. It brings together, for the first time, a range of official statistics from across the crime and criminal justice system, providing an overview of sexual offending in England and Wales. The report is structured to highlight: the victim experience; the police role in recording and detecting the crimes; how the various criminal justice agencies deal with an offender once identified; and the criminal histories of sex offenders.

Providing such an overview presents a number of challenges, not least that the available information comes from different sources that do not necessarily cover the same period, the same people (victims or offenders) or the same offences. This is explained further in the report.

Victimisation through to police recording of crimes

Based on aggregated data from the ‘Crime Survey for England and Wales’ in 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12, on average, 2.5 per cent of females and 0.4 per cent of males said that they had been a victim of a sexual offence (including attempts) in the previous 12 months. This represents around 473,000 adults being victims of sexual offences (around 404,000 females and 72,000 males) on average per year. These experiences span the full spectrum of sexual offences, ranging from the most serious offences of rape and sexual assault, to other sexual offences like indecent exposure and unwanted touching. The vast majority of incidents reported by respondents to the survey fell into the other sexual offences category.

It is estimated that 0.5 per cent of females report being a victim of the most serious offences of rape or sexual assault by penetration in the previous 12 months, equivalent to around 85,000 victims on average per year. Among males, less than 0.1 per cent (around 12,000) report being a victim of the same types of offences in the previous 12 months.

Around one in twenty females (aged 16 to 59) reported being a victim of a most serious sexual offence since the age of 16. Extending this to include other sexual offences such as sexual threats, unwanted touching or indecent exposure, this increased to one in five females reporting being a victim since the age of 16.

Around 90 per cent of victims of the most serious sexual offences in the previous year knew the perpetrator, compared with less than half for other sexual offences.

Females who had reported being victims of the most serious sexual offences in the last year were asked, regarding the most recent incident, whether or not they had reported the incident to the police. Only 15 per cent of victims of such offences said that they had done so. Frequently cited reasons for not reporting the crime were that it was ‘embarrassing’, they ‘didn’t think the police could do much to help’, that the incident was ‘too trivial or not worth reporting’, or that they saw it as a ‘private/family matter and not police business’

In 2011/12, the police recorded a total of 53,700 sexual offences across England and Wales. The most serious sexual offences of ‘rape’ (16,000 offences) and ‘sexual assault’ (22,100 offences) accounted for 71 per cent of sexual offences recorded by the police. This differs markedly from victims responding to the CSEW in 2011/12, the majority of whom were reporting being victims of other sexual offences outside the most serious category.

This reflects the fact that victims are more likely to report the most serious sexual offences to the police and, as such, the police and broader criminal justice system (CJS) tend to deal largely with the most serious end of the spectrum of sexual offending. The majority of the other sexual crimes recorded by the police related to ‘exposure or voyeurism’ (7,000) and ‘sexual activity with minors’ (5,800).

Trends in recorded crime statistics can be influenced by whether victims feel able to and decide to report such offences to the police, and by changes in police recording practices. For example, while there was a 17 per cent decrease in recorded sexual offences between 2005/06 and 2008/09, there was a seven per cent increase between 2008/09 and 2010/11. The latter increase may in part be due to greater encouragement by the police to victims to come forward and improvements in police recording, rather than an increase in the level of victimisation.

After the initial recording of a crime, the police may later decide that no crime took place as more details about the case emerge. In 2011/12, there were 4,155 offences initially recorded as sexual offences that the police later decided were not crimes. There are strict guidelines that set out circumstances under which a crime report may be ‘no crimed’. The ‘no-crime’ rate for sexual offences (7.2 per cent) compare

The areas of focus include: Victimisation, Police Activity, Defendants and Court Outcomes, Offender Management, Offender Characteristics, Offence Analysis, and Practitioners.

This is the latest biennial compendium of Statistics on Ethnicity and the Criminal Justice System and follows on from its sister publication Statistics on Women and the Criminal Justice System, 2019.

The areas of focus include: Victimisation, Police Activity, Defendants and Court Outcomes, Offender Management, Offender Characteristics, Offence Analysis, and Practitioners.

This is the latest biennial compendium of Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System and follows on from its sister publication Statistics on Women and the Criminal Justice System, 2017.

Introduction

This publication compiles statistics from data sources across the Criminal Justice System (CJS), to provide a combined perspective on the typical experiences of different ethnic groups. No causative links can be drawn from these summary statistics. For the majority of the report no controls have been applied for other characteristics of ethnic groups (such as average income, geography, offence mix or offender history), so it is not possible to determine what proportion of differences identified in this report are directly attributable to ethnicity. Differences observed may indicate areas worth further investigation, but should not be taken as evidence of bias or as direct effects of ethnicity.

In general, minority ethnic groups appear to be over-represented at many stages throughout the CJS compared with the White ethnic group. The greatest disparity appears at the point of stop and search, arrests, custodial sentencing and prison population. Among minority ethnic groups, Black individuals were often the most over-represented. Outcomes for minority ethnic children are often more pronounced at various points of the CJS. Differences in outcomes between ethnic groups over time present a mixed picture, with disparity decreasing in some areas are and widening in others.

Key findings

Victims

• The Asian ethnic group had the lowest proportion of both adults (2%) and children (5%) who had experienced personal crime in the last year. In 2018/19, both adults and children from the Asian ethnic group were half as likely to report victimisation when compared to the White ethnic group.
• A higher proportion of Black homicides were against children, 17% of Black victims were 17 or younger, compared to an average of 11% across all ethnicities. Between 2015/16 and 2017/18, Black children made up 20% of all child victims, while Black victims made up 13% of victims across all age groups.

Police Activity

• The proportion of stop and searches conducted on White suspects decreased from 75% in 2014/15 to 59% in 2018/19 and increased for all minority ethnic groups. The largest increases were from 13% to 22% for Black suspects and from 8% to 13% for Asian suspects.
• In the last five years, the proportion of stop and searches involving Black suspects in London increased from 30% to 37%, now equal to the number of White suspects searched. In 2018/19, 48% of all stop and searches (where ethnicity is known) were conducted in London, and increasingly involving a higher proportion of suspects from minority ethnic groups when compared to the rest of England and Wales.
• Black suspects had the highest proportion of arrests that resulted from stop and searches in the latest year, at 20% which has increased from 15% since 2014/15. This is driven by a higher number of stop and searches in London, where resultant arrests accounted for 22% of all arrests, compared to 5% for the rest of England and Wales. For other groups, between 6% and 13% of arrests resulted from stop and searches.
• In 2018/19, two thirds (67%) of children arrested in London were from minority ethnic groups, compared to 21% of children arrested in the rest of England and Wales. Just over half (52%) of adults arrested in London were from minority ethnic groups, compared to 22% of adults arrested in the rest of England and Wales.

Defendants

• In the latest year, the largest fall in the volume of prosecutions and convictions for indictable offences was seen in the Asian group, down by 22% and 20% respectively. Prosecutions and convictions fell by 18% and 16% for Black defendants, by 13% each for White defendants, by 8% and 10% for defendants from Mixed ethnic groups and by 7% and 14% for defendants from Chinese or Other ethnic groups.
• White defendants consistently had the highest conviction ratio for indictable offences over the last 5 years (with the exception of 2015) and was 85% in 2018. The conviction ratios for White, Asian (83%) and Black (81%) defendants have converged with each other over the last 5 years, remained constant for defendants from Mixed ethnic groups (77%) and fallen for Chinese or Other ethnic groups (75%).
• Compared to White defendants (38%), larger proportions of Asian (40%), Mixed ethnicity (45%), Black (46%) and Chinese or Other (46%) defendants were remanded in custody for indictable

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

<a href="#contents" class="go

Contents

1. Statistican’s comment

2. Knife and offensive weapon offences overview

3. Sentencing

4. Offending History

5. Sentencing for repeat convictions of possession of a knife or offensive weapon

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 the end of September 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">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

Details

This publication presents key statistics describing the trends in the number of offenders In England and Wales 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

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 September 2024
• 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.

We regularly carry out work to improve our statistics and geography breakdowns, therefore please refer to the latest publication for the most up-to-date figures. The bulletin was produced and handled by the ministry’s analytical professionals and production staff.

Pre-release access

Prior to publication pre-release access of up to 24 hours was granted to the following persons:

Ministry of Justice:

Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice; Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – covering sentencing; Permanent Secretary; Minister and Permanent Secretary Private Secretaries (x3); Special Advisors (x2); Director-General Policy: Prisons, Offenders and Analysis; Head of Sentencing Policy; Senior Policy Advisor, Custodial Sentencing Policy Unit; Policy Advisor, Custodial Sentencing Policy Unit; Head of Youth Justice Policy; Deputy Head of News and relevant press officers (x3).

Youth Justice Board:

Senior Communications Manager

Home Office:

Home Secretary; Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Crime and Policing; Policy Advisor, Serious Violence Unit; Head of Media and relevant press officers (x1)

These statistics relate to the public disorder of 6th to 9th August 2011.

Introduction

The following section provides updated information on those brought before the courts for offences related to the public disorder of 6th to 9th August 2011. Information is provided on those individuals brought before the courts; their initial outcomes and sentencing based on data available by 10th August 2012. When reading this section please bear in mind that:

1. the group of people brought before the courts is only a subset of all people who took part in the public disorder of 6th to 9th August 2011. It is therefore possible that there are differences between the people brought before the courts to date and all those who took part in the disorder;
2. some of the people brought before the courts will have their charges dropped or be acquitted;
3. there are new cases being brought before the courts for events related to the disorder on a regular basis. It is possible that there may be differences in characteristics or age profiles of those brought before the courts later compared to those who have appeared so far;
4. In this bulletin comparisons have been made with proceedings in 2010 covering similar offence types seen in the disorder, such as burglary, theft and violent disorder, to provide context to the sentences given;
5. The information released in this bulletin updates the previous analysis published on 28 June 2012; in addition information has been provided in this update on previous criminal history.

Information on the background definitions and measurement can be found in the full report.

Executive Summary

The public disorder began on 6th August 2011. On 7th and 8th August 2011 there were further outbreaks of disorder mainly in London. On 9th August the incidents were mainly outside of London.

The following presents court information on those who have appeared before the courts by 10th August 2012 for offences related to the disorder of 6th to 9th August 2011. The police and courts agreed whether an offence was related to the disorder and the courts then returned details of the case centrally to the Ministry of Justice statistics team.

It is important to note that none of the factors explored imply causality with the public disorder events, but provide a background understanding of the characteristics of those brought before the courts. It is also the case that those brought before the courts may have different characteristics from those who took part and have yet to appear before the courts.

Cases by area

Of the 3,103 people who appeared before the courts by 10th August 2012 proceedings were held in the following areas:

• London - 2,246 first hearings
• West Midlands - 334 first hearings
• Greater Manchester - 249 first hearings
• Merseyside - 93 first hearings
• Nottingham - 64 first hearings
• Other areas - 117 first hearings

Gender, Age and Ethnicity

Of the 3,103 people brought before the courts by 10th August 2012, 89 per cent were male and 11 per cent were female. Compared to 2010, for all first hearings for indictable offences, 85 per cent were male and 15 per cent were female.

Of those brought before the courts for offences related to the public disorder, 27 per cent were aged 10-17 (juveniles) and a further 26 per cent were aged 18-20. Only five per cent of those appearing before the courts for the disorder were aged 40 or over.

This is different to the age distribution of those appearing before the courts for similar offences in 2010 when the proportion of juveniles was 16 per cent, the proportion of 18-20 year olds was 15 per cent and the proportion aged 40 or over was 15 percent.

Breakdowns by area show different age profiles for those appearing before the courts:

• London - 26 per cent were juveniles and four per cent were 40 or over
• West Midlands - 29 per cent were juveniles and eight per cent were 40 or over
• Greater Manchester - 29 per cent were juveniles and 11 per cent were 40 or over Nottingham - 39 per cent were juveniles none were aged 40 or over
• Merseyside - 39 per cent were juveniles and four per cent were 40 or over
• Other areas - 33 per cent were juveniles and three per cent were 40 or over

Comparisons of the data collected on self-defined ethnicity (where ethnicity was recordedhttp://www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/criminal-justice/public-disorder-august-11/#foot">1) show that 41 per cent of those brought before the courts identified themselves as being from the white ethnic group, 39 per cent from the black ethnic group, 12 per cent from the m

These statistics concentrate on the flow of children (aged 10 to 17) through the youth justice system in England and Wales. The data described comes from various sources including the Home Office (HO), Youth Custody Service (YCS), Ministry of Justice (MOJ), Youth Justice Services and youth secure estate providers. The report is produced by the Statistics and Analysis Team in the Youth Justice Board (YJB).

Details of the number of children arrested are provided along with proven offences, criminal history, characteristics of children, details of the number of children sentenced, those on remand, those in custody, reoffending and behaviour management.

The report is published, along with supplementary tables for each chapter, additional annexes, local level data, including in an open and accessible format, an infographic and local level maps.

Pre-release access

Pre-release access of up to 24 hours is granted to the following persons (reflecting the cross-departmental responsibility for children committing crime and reoffending):

Ministry of Justice

Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Minister of State, Deputy Director, Youth Justice Policy, Head of Reducing Reoffending and Probation Data & Statistics, Head of PNC/Criminal Histories Team, Head of News, Deputy Head of News, Lead Psychologist and Reducing Reoffending, Policy lead on YJB and Thematics and the relevant special advisers, private secretaries, statisticians, analyst and press officers.

Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS)

Head of YCS Information team, Head of briefing, and relevant statisticians and analyst.

YJB

YJB Board Chair, Chief Executive, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Director of Business Intelligence and Insights, Head of Statistics and Analysis, Head of Communications and the relevant statisticians, analyst and communication officers.