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

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

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

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

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

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

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; Parliamentary Under Secretary of State; Parliamentary Under Secretary of State; Lords spokesperson – Ministry of Justice; Permanent Secretary; Director General, Chief Financial Officer; Deputy Director, Bail, Sentencing and Release Policy; Director, Offender and Youth Justice Policy; Director General, Policy and Strategy Group; Director, Data & Analytical Services Directorate Acting Head of Justice Statistics Analytical Services; Head of Criminal Court Statistics; Head of HMPPS Equalities Statistics; Lead on HMPPS Equalities report; Head YJB Statistics; Senior Data Analyst, YJB; Legal Aid Statistician; Head of Prison and Probation Statistics; Team Leader, Prison Statistics; Reoffending, Probation and Payment by Results Statistics; Senior Statistical Officer; Statistical Officer; Acting Head of Data Innovation, Analysis and Linking; Head of Sentencing, Criminal Records and Community Justice Policy, Policy Lead, Female Offenders; 7 Policy Advisors; 10 Private Secretaries; Head of News; 5 Press Officers; 1 Special Advisor.

Home Office

Home Secretary; Minister of State for Crime and Policing; Permanent Secretary, Home Office; Director of Crime, Home Office; Chief Statistician; Head of Crime and Policing Statistics; 3 Crime and Policing Analysts; 3 Police Powers Unit Policy; Policing Minister’s Private Office; 3 Private Secretaries; 3 Press Officers.

Lord Chief Justice’s Office

Lord Chief Justice; Head of the Criminal Justice Team; and 2 Private Secretaries.

Office for National Statistics

2 Research Officers.

Department for Education

2 Research Officers; and 1 Press Officer.

NHS England

1 Analyst.

HM Inspectorate of Prisons

1 Research Officer.

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