NCJ Number
61049
Date Published
1977
Length
435 pages
Annotation
STATISTICS RELATING TO CRIME AND CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND AND WALES ARE PRESENTED FOR 1977.
Abstract
STATISTICS ARE PROVIDED FOR (1) INDICTABLE OFFENSES RECORDED BY THE POLICE, (2) INDICTABLE OFFENSES CLEARED BY POLICE, (3) INDICTABLE OFFENSES IN WHICH FIREAMS WERE REPORTED TO HAVE BEEN INVOLVED, (4) COURT PROCEEDINGS, (5) OFFENDERS FOUND GUILTY OR CAUTIONED, (6) SENTENCING, (7) LEGAL AID, (8) USE OF REMAND, AND (9) HOMICIDE. THERE HAS BEEN AN INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF INDICTABLE OFFENSES RECORDED BY THE POLICE; IN THE PERIOD 1967-1977, THE NUMBER INCREASED ABOUT SEVEN-EIGHTHS, TO ALMOST 2.5 MILLION. LESS THAN HALF OF THESE OFFENSES WERE CLEARED BY THE POLICE. CAUTIONING IS USED BY THE POLICE MAINLY FOR JUVENILES AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO COURT PROCEEDINGS. ABOUT ONE IN FIVE OFFENDERS WAS CAUTIONED. NONINDICTABLE OFFENSES COVER MOST MOTORING OFFENSES AND OTHER LESS SERIOUS OFFENSES. FROM 1967-1977 THE NUMBER OF OFFENDERS FOUND GUILTY OF MOTORING OFFENSES ROSE ABOUT ONE-EIGHTH, TO OVER 1 MILLION. IN THE SAME PERIOD, THE NUMBER OF OFFENDERS FOUND GUILTY OR CAUTIONED FOR OTHER NONINDICTABLE OFFENSES HAS RISEN OVER THREE-EIGHTS, TO ABOUT ONE-HALF MILLION. OVERALL, THE NUMBER OF OFFENDERS FOUND GUILTY OR CAUTIONED HAS RISEN FROM ABOUT 1.5 MILLION IN 1967 TO OVER 2 MILLION IN 1977. THIS REPRESENTS AN INCREASE FROM ABOUT 4 PERCENT OF THE POPULATION AGED 10 OR OVER TO ABOUT 5 PERCENT. (RCB)