NCJ Number
151530
Date Published
1994
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This 1993 statistical review of cautions, court proceedings, and sentencing in England and Wales found that 1,960,000 defendants were prosecuted in magistrate courts, 4 percent less than in 1992.
Abstract
The number of offenders tried in the Crown Court fell by 16,000 to 82,000 in 1993, reflecting declines in magistrate court proceedings and committal rates. The number of offenders cautioned for all offenses, excluding traffic offenses, decreased by 3 percent to 311,000 in 1993. The proportionate use of fines for indictable offenses in magistrate courts rose to 45 percent in the fourth quarter of 1992 after the implementation of the unit fine scheme; this percentage fell to 38 percent in the fourth quarter of 1993. During 1993, the proportionate use of community sentences for indictable offenses increased by 3 percentage points to 24 percent in magistrate courts and by 6 percentage points to 34 percent in the Crown Court. The use of fully suspended sentences for indictable offenses in the Crown Court dropped from 16 percent in the first three quarters of 1992 to under 3 percent in the last quarter of 1993. The proportionate use of immediate custody for persons of all ages sentenced for indictable offenses increased to 16.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 1993. 4 references, 11 tables, and 6 figures