These statistics concentrate on the flow of children (aged 10-17) 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 Offending Teams (YOTs) and youth secure estate providers. The report is produced by the Analysis and Information Team in the Youth Justice Board (YJB) under the direction of the Chief Statistician in MOJ.

Details of the number of children arrested are provided along with proven offences, criminal history, characteristics of children and young people, 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 juvenile crime and reoffending):

Ministry of Justice

Secretary of State, Minister of State, Permanent Secretary, Chief Statistician, Director General of Offender and Youth Justice Police, Director of Data and Analysis, Director of Youth Justice Policy and Commissioning, and the relevant special advisers, statisticians, policy officers and press officers

Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service

Director General of HMPPS, Head of Performance Management Youth Custody Service and Head of Briefing and Operational Policy, Youth Custody Service

Home Office

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability, Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Service and Minister for London, and Head of Serious Youth Violence Unit

Youth Justice Board

Chair of the YJB, CEO of the YJB, Chief Operating Officer, and the relevant statisticians and communication officers

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.

This bulletin presents key statistics describing the trends in the number of knife or offensive weapon offences receiving cautions and convictions in England and Wales. This bulletin does not cover all knife or offensive weapon crimes (offences involving a knife or offensive weapon) as published by the Office for National Statistics.

The information presented combines all three types of knife or offensive weapon offences; possession of an article with a blade or point in a public place or on school premises; possession of an offensive weapon without lawful authority or reasonable excuse in a public place or on school premises and offences of aggravated possession of a knife or offensive weapon.

Three extra documents accompany this bulletin:

1. An interactive table tool showing the criminal history of knife or offensive weapon offenders, giving breakdowns by prosecuting police force, gender and ethnic appearance as well as previous offences, disposal, age group and year.

2. An https://moj-analytical-services.github.io/knife_possession_sankey/index.html" class="govuk-link">interactive Sankey diagram (a type of flow diagram, in which the width of the arrows is shown proportionally to the number each represents) presenting information on outcomes and criminal history of offenders sentenced or cautioned for a knife or offensive weapon offence.

3. A complete set of tables.

The bulletin was produced and handled by the ministry’s analytical professionals and production staff. For the bulletin 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; Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – covering youth justice; Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – covering sentencing; Permanent Secretary; Minister and Permanent Secretary Private Secretaries (9); Special Advisors (2); Deputy Director for Bail, Sentencing and Release Policy; Head of Custodial Sentencing Policy Unit; Senior Policy Advisor, Custodial Sentencing Policy Unit; Head of Courts & Sentencing, Youth Justice Policy; Policy Advisor, Youth Sentencing; Head of News and relevant press officers (3).

Youth Justice Board:

Data Analyst, YJB Information and Analysis.

Home Office:

Home Secretary; Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability; Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Crime, Policing and the Fire Service; Minister Private Secretaries (4); Special Advisor; Assistant Private Secretary to the Special Advisors; Head of Weapons team, Serious Violence Unit; Head of Serious Violence Unit; Policy Advisor, Serious Violence Unit; Statistician, Violent Crime; and relevant press officers (2).

Cabinet Office:

Private Secretary to the Prime Minister; Principal Analyst, Prime Minister’s Implementation Unit.

These statistics concentrate on the flow of young people (aged 10-17) through the Youth Justice System in England and Wales. The data described comes from various sources including the Home Office (HO), Ministry of Justice (MOJ), Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) and youth secure estate providers. The report is produced by the Analysis team and the Information team in the Youth Justice Board (YJB) under the direction of the Chief Statistician in MOJ.

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

The report and executive summary are published, along with supplementary tables for each chapter and some regional information.

Pre-release access

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

MOJ

Secretary of State, Minister of State, Permanent Secretary, Director of Criminal Policy Group, Head of Joint Youth Justice Unit, Programme Director Youth Justice Analysis, Chief Statistician and the relevant special adviser, policy officer and press officer

Home Office

Minister of State, and press officer

YJB

Chair of the YJB, Head of YJB, Director of Operations, Director of Partnerships and Performance, Head of YJB Wales, Head of YJB Communications and the relevant policy officer and press officer

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

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

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. Our statement explains this further and in particular, we have limited access to the Police National Computer, to minimise non-essential travel by our analysts. In line with guidance from the Office for Statistics Regulation, the decision has been made to delay the following publications:

• FTE data to March 2020 will be published on 18 February 2021
• FTE data to June 2020 will be published on 18 February 2021

Offending histories commentary and data for year ending December 2019 has now been made available on the Criminal Justice Statistics quarterly: December 2019 page. This part of the release was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused MoJ to have to change its data gathering, access and release practices, focusing efforts on priority analysis and statistics (see above).

Statistician’s comment

Today’s publication, covering to June 2020, is the first to contain a full quarter affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact is clear to see in the data. Court activity was affected by the pandemic as adjustments were made to adhere to new rules on movement and social interaction and this has led to an exaggerated reduction in overall prosecutions, and the prioritising of certain types of court cases. Other impacts include:

• A steeper than expected increase in the custody rate, which has been increasing for indictable offences over the decade, but is likely to have been further influenced by the prioritisation of offences most likely to result in custody.
• An increase in the number of defendants remanded in custody at the Crown Court (and a corresponding decrease in those remanded on bail).

The impact of the pandemic is likely to continue to affect these statistics and drive short-term trends in future periods as we see the recovery in subsequent quarters. It will be useful for readers to consider these alongside statistics on criminal court receipts, disposals and outstanding cases produced in the Criminal court statistics quarterly.

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; 5 Private Secretaries; Assistant Private Secretary; Permanent Secretary; Special Advisor; Head of News; Chief Press Officer; 4 Press Officers; Director, Family and Criminal Justice Policy; Director of Data and Analytical Services; Director General for Policy and Strategy Group; Chief Financial Officer & Director General for the Chief Financial Officer 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; Policy Manager – Youth Courts and Sentencing; 5 Policy Advisors; Head of Custodial Sentencing; Policy Lead, Vulnerable Offender Policy; Head of Criminal Courts Statistics.

Home Office

Home Secretary; 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 Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Service; Director of Crime, Home Office; Head of Crime and Policing Statistics, Home Office; Head of Recorded Crime Statistics.

The Judiciary

Lord Chief Justice; Private Secretary to the Lord Chief Justice; Private Secretary to the President of the Queen’s Bench; Lead for

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.