NCJ Number
201893
Date Published
December 2002
Length
195 pages
Annotation
This report presents statistics on offenders administered formal police cautions, reprimands or warnings, or criminal court proceedings in England and Wales during 2001.
Abstract
The statistics address recorded crime, recorded crime in which firearms were reported to have been used or misappropriated, homicide, offenders cautioned or found guilty, court proceedings, sentencing, and the use of police bail and court remand. The data show a 7-percent increase in recorded crime between 2000/01 and 2001/02; however, changes in police recording practice indicate an actual increase estimated to be 2 percent. Property crimes accounted for 78 percent of all crimes as measured by the British Crime Survey (victimization survey) and 82 percent of recorded crime in 2001/02, a slight increase from the previous year. Some of this increase was due to changes in police recording rates, as well as reporting rates. Changes in recording rates also affected trends in violent crime. The British Crime Survey found a small, but not statistically significant, increase from the previous year; whereas, recorded crime showed a large increase in violent crime; taking into account recording changes, however, the real trend in violence against the person in 2001/2002 may have been a reduction of approximately 5 percent. The clearance rate was 23 percent in 2001/02, down from 24 percent in the previous year. In 2001, 1.6 million offenders were found guilty or cautioned, a 5-percent decline from 2000. A total of 229,900 offenders were cautioned for all offenses in 2001, a 4-percent decrease from 2000. Receipts of cases in magistrates' courts decreased by 3 percent in 2001, due largely to a sharp decline in the number of proceedings for summary non-motoring offenses, down 8 percent to 576,000. The number of community sentences increased by 6 percent to 165,000 in 2001, compared with a 3-percent increase the previous year. The number of offenders given immediate custody at all courts was 106,300 in 2001, the highest figure since 1928. The average population in custody in 2001 was 66,300, a 2.6-percent increase from 1999. Extensive tables and figures and 8 references