Prisoners on Remand

(asked on 4th November 2014) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people held on remand in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012 and (d) 2013 were subsequently (i) convicted and (ii) found not guilty.


Answered by
Shailesh Vara Portrait
Shailesh Vara
This question was answered on 7th November 2014

Bail and remand decisions are quite rightly for the courts to make, based on the facts of the particular case.

In making remand decisions, courts must balance the risk that release on bail might pose to the public or to the administration of justice, against the detention of a person who may prove to be innocent. Defendants who are dangerous and pose a threat to society should always be remanded in custody.

The number of defendants remanded in custody who were subsequently found guilty and did not receive immediate custody in each year from 2010 to 2013 can be found in the tables listed with web links below.

These tables also show the number of defendants remanded in custody who were found not guilty and the number found guilty in each year under ‘Acquitted or not proceeded with etc.’ and ‘Total Defendants sentenced’ respectively.

2013

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-statistics-quarterly-december-2013

‘Court proceedings tables’ – Table A3.7

2012

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-statistics-quarterly-march-2013

‘Revised remands tables – December 2012’ – Table A3.7

2010 and 2011

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-statistics-in-england-and-wales-earlier-editions-in-the-series

‘Court proceedings tables: Dec 2011’ – Table A3.7

‘Court proceedings tables’ under title ‘Criminal justice statistics, England and Wales 2010’ – Table A3.7

Attached is a table showing the number of offenders remanded in custody and found guilty, by offence, in each year from 2010 to 2013, in England and Wales. This table also shows the average custodial sentence length of those offenders given immediate custody.

On 28th May 2013 committal hearings were abolished nationally as part of wider measures to speed up justice and improve efficiencies in the justice system. Cases are now being sent straight to the Crown Court as soon as it is clear the matter is serious enough rather than having to await a committal hearing. This change in proceedings led to a change in the recording of magistrates’ court remands data. As a result, care should be taken when attempting to identify trends.

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