Drugs: Crime
(asked on 29th January 2015) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of offenders convicted in (a) 2012-13 and (b) 2013-14 were convicted for what drug-related crimes.
Under this Government crime is falling and criminals are more likely to go to prison and for longer. Drug offending is serious in itself, and drug dealers can expect substantial prison sentences, but drug abuse also underlies a huge volume of acquisitive and violent crime which can blight communities. The independent Sentencing Council issued a sentencing guideline on drug offences, effective from February 2012, which brought sentencing guidance together for the first time to help to ensure consistent and proportionate sentencing for all drug offences that come before courts.
The number of offenders found guilty at all courts of drug offences and of all drug-related offences, by quarter, in England and Wales from 2012 to 2013, can be viewed in the table below.
| Offenders found guilty at all courts of drug offences, by quarter, England and Wales, 2012 to 2013 (1)(2) | ||||||||
| Offence | 2012 | 2013 | ||||||
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | |
| Importation and Exportation (3) | ||||||||
| Number | 167 | 135 | 112 | 129 | 138 | 101 | 111 | 108 |
| Proportion of total offences | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Production (4) | ||||||||
| Number | 1,789 | 1,656 | 1,640 | 1,601 | 1,631 | 1,602 | 1,622 | 1,454 |
| Proportion of total offences | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Supply (5) | ||||||||
| Number | 1,040 | 916 | 842 | 760 | 1,050 | 982 | 922 | 936 |
| Proportion of total offences | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Possession (6) | ||||||||
| Number | 10,491 | 9,331 | 10,457 | 9,557 | 9,925 | 9,840 | 9,646 | 9,108 |
| Proportion of total offences | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% |
| Possession with intent to supply (7) | ||||||||
| Number | 1,854 | 1,682 | 1,657 | 1,659 | 1,691 | 1,774 | 1,893 | 1,737 |
| Proportion of total offences | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Incitement to supply (8) | ||||||||
| Number | - | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Proportion of total offences | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Permitting premises to be used for illegal purposes (9) | ||||||||
| Number | 135 | 102 | 120 | 112 | 127 | 116 | 127 | 122 |
| Proportion of total offences | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Vienna Convention offences (10) | ||||||||
| Number | - | - | - | - | 2 | - | - | - |
| Proportion of total offences | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Miscellaneous offences (11) | ||||||||
| Number | 67 | 39 | 35 | 38 | 41 | 63 | 56 | 62 |
| Proportion of total offences | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Total (drug offences) | 15,543 | 13,863 | 14,863 | 13,856 | 14,605 | 14,478 | 14,377 | 13,527 |
| Total (other offences) | 312,074 | 282,920 | 289,521 | 288,946 | 286,896 | 276,833 | 277,308 | 273,944 |
| Total (England and Wales) | 327,617 | 296,783 | 304,384 | 302,802 | 301,501 | 291,311 | 291,685 | 287,471 |
| Drug convictions (%) | 5% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 5% |
| '-' = Nil | ||||||||
| (1) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. | ||||||||
| (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. | ||||||||
| (3) Offences under SS 50(2),(3),(5), 68 (2) & (4) & 170 (1-4) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 | ||||||||
| (4) Offences under Section 4(2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 | ||||||||
| (5) Offences under Section 4(3) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 | ||||||||
| (6) Offences under Section 5(2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 | ||||||||
| (7) Offences under Section 5(3) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 | ||||||||
| (8) Offences under Section 19 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 | ||||||||
| (9) Offences under Section 8 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 | ||||||||
| (10) Offences under SS12-19 of the Criminal Justice (International C-Operation) Act 1990 and RR6(5), 7, 7(5) & 8 of the Controlled Drug (Drug Precursors)(Community External Trade) Regulations 2008 | ||||||||
| (11) Offences under SS 9, 11(2), 12 (6), 13(3), 17 (4), 18 (2-4), 20 & 23 (4) of The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 & SS 327 - 330, 333, 336 (5) & (6) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 | ||||||||
| NB - 0% readings are due to rounding down from below 0.5% | ||||||||
| Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice. | ||||||||
| Ref: PQ 222733 | ||||||||
Whilst criminal justice statistics for England and Wales as a whole for the years 2012 and 2013 are in the public domain, statistics for the year 2014 are planned for publication on the Ministry of Justice website in May 2015. Please note that whilst quarterly court proceedings and convictions headline data are published on the Ministry of Justice website and are currently available up to end June 2014, these data are subject to revision as later quarters are published, and are finalised only when the annual publication is made publicly available. To ensure consistency of data released to users, further breakdowns (in this case by specific offences under certain legislation) of 2014 Quarter 1 (January to March) data are not available until the annual criminal statistics publication is published.