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

Latest prison population figures for 2023.

This page covers weekly estate summary data. View monthly prison breakdown.

The report is released by the Ministry of Justice and produced in accordance with arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

For further information about the Justice Data Lab, please refer to the following guidance:

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Key findings this quarter

Two requests are being published this quarter: The Thinking Skills Programme (2010-2019), and Lancashire Women – second request (2015-2021).

The Thinking Skills Programme (2010 – 2019)

There are two Thinking Skills Programme (TSP) reports which evaluate (a) the impact on reoffending behaviour, and (b) the impact on prison misconduct, for individuals who participated in the TSP. The TSP is an accredited offending behaviour programme designed and delivered by His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS).

Impact evaluation of prison-based TSP on reoffending

The reoffending study involved a treatment group of 20,293 adults (18,555 males, 1,738 females) who participated in the TSP in custody between 2010 and 2019. Proven reoffending was measured over a two-year period from the point of release from custody.

Over a two-year period from release, men who participated in the TSP were less likely to reoffend, reoffended less frequently, and took longer to reoffend, compared to similar males who did not participate in the TSP. These results were statistically significant and the effect sizes were very small.

Results indicated that over a two-year period following release, females who participated in the TSP reoffended less frequently, compared to similar females who did not participate in the TSP. These results were statistically significant with very small effect sizes.

Impact evaluation of the TSP on prison misconduct

The prison misconduct study involved a treatment group of 13,891 adults (12,938 males, and 953 females) who participated in the TSP between 2011 and 2019.

The male headline analysis results showed that over a 6-month period after starting the TSP those who had participated were less likely to receive an adjudication compared to males who did not participate in the TSP and received an adjudication less frequently. These results had very small effect sizes and were statistically significant.

The female headline analyses showed that over a 6-month period after starting the TSP females who had participated in the TSP received any form of adjudication less frequently compared to those who did not participate in the TSP. This result had a very small effect size and was statistically significant.

Lancashire Women – Second request (2015-2021)

Lancashire Women support women involved, or at risk of involvement, in the criminal justice system. The gender specific organisation offers support around societal stigmas, housing, emotional wellbeing, education, employment, and family and relationships. This is the second JDL evaluation for Lancashire Women, looking at programme participants between 2015 and 2021.

The overall results show that those who took part in the Lancashire Women were less likely to reoffend, reoffended less frequently and took longer to reoffend than those who did not take part. These results were statistically significant.

Justice Data Lab service: available reoffending data

The Justice Data Lab team have brought in reoffending data for the second quarter of 2021 into the service. It is now possible for an organisation to submit information on the individuals it was working with up to the end of June 2021, in addition to during the years 2002 to 2020.

Pre-release access

The bulletins are 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: Minister of State, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Special Advisers, Permanent Secretary, Deputy Head of News, 1 Director General, 6 press officers, 18 policy officials, and 5 analytical officials. Relevant Special Advisers and Private Office staff of Ministers and senior officials may have access to pre-release figures to inform briefing and handling arrangements.

Safety in custody statistics cover deaths, self-harm and assaults in prison custody in England and Wales. This publication updates statistics up to the end of June 2013. Supplementary tables, providing more in depth statistics on deaths, self-harm and assaults on a calendar year basis up to 2012 are also provided.

In the 12 months to the end of June 2013 there were 193 deaths in prison custody. This is unchanged from the same 12 month period in 2012. The number of self-inflicted deaths increased by one-fifth to 62 deaths from 51 in the same period in 2012. The number of natural cause deaths is lower in the 12 months to end of June 2013 than the previous 12 months but it is likely that some of the deaths in the other category will later be reclassified as natural cause deaths as more information about these deaths is received.

Overall self-harm continues to decline year-on-year but there are differing trends for male and female self-harm. Incidence of male self-harm has been gradually increasing since June 2005, although the rate of male individuals self-harming has stabilised at between 68 and 71 males per 1,000 prisoners in recent years. In 2012 the number of males self-harming more than 20 times outnumbered females for the first time since the current recording system began.

In contrast, incidence of female self-harm has fallen by 42 per cent over the last two years largely driven by a reduction in the number of repetitive self-harmers. The rate of female prisoners self-harming fell by 25% from 353 females per 1,000 prisoners self-harming in the 12 months to June 2010 to 266 females per 1,000 prisoners in the 12 months to June 2013. This most recent 12 month period is up 1 from the same 12 month period a year earlier suggesting that the recent falls in female self-harm are levelling off. Despite the recent large falls incidence of female self-harm still accounts for a disproportionate amount of self-harm in prison custody.

The number of assaults continue to decrease over a 12 month period, falling by 10% in the 12 months to June 2013 compared with the same period a year earlier. At 162 assaults per 1,000 prisoners the rate of assaults, including fights, in the 12 months to end of June 2013 was the lowest for 10 years. The rate of assaults on staff has remained unchanged for 4 years at 35 assaults per 1,000 prisoners. The number of serious assaults on staff has increased in the 12 month period to June 2013 to 301 incidents from an unusually low 257 incidents in the same 12 month period to June 2012. This returns the number of serious assaults on staff to the level seen in June 2011.

Pre-release list

Pre-release list for safety in custody statistics bulletin.

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; Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Minister for Prisons and Rehabilitation; Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Minister for Victims and the Courts; Permanent Secretary; Director General, Justice Policy Group; Deputy Director of Youth Justice Policy; Director of Sentencing and Rehabilitation; Director of Analytical Services; Director General of Finance and Corporate Services; Director General of Transforming Justice; Policy Manager Justice Policy Group; Youth Justice Policy Advisor; Programme Director: Youth Justice Analysis; and relevant special advisors and press officers.

National Offender Management Service (NOMS)

Director General of NOMS; Director, National Operational Services; Director, Public Sector Prisons; Head of NOMS Population Strategy; Head of Public Protection Casework Section (OMPPG); Head of Offender Management and Public Protection Unit (NOMS); Policy Lead, Reducing re-offending and Offender Health; Head of Planning and Analysis Group (PAG); Head of Equalities, Disabilities and Rights Group; Head of Policy and Performance (PPCS, PPMHG); Head of Statistics, Planning and Analysis Group; Head of Safer Custody and Litigation; Head of Safer Custody Casework and Learning; Head of Violence Management Project Team; Strategy Unit Project Manager for Sentencing Assessment

Home Office

Secretary of State, Home Office; Minister of State for Immigration; Minister of State for Policing and Criminal Justice; Home Office policy lead for re-offending; Private Secretary to the Prime Minister Special Advisor to Prime Minister Ministry of Justice Finances and Strategy, Public Services Group HM Treasury Deputy Private Secretary to Deputy Prime Minister.