Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the highest number of total previous offences for robbery was that a person committed before being given an immediate custodial sentence for that offence in each of the last three years.

Sentencing is a matter for our independent courts, who take into account all circumstances of the case, including any aggravating and mitigating factors. We are clear that sentencing must match the severity of a crime.

However, sentences should also rehabilitate. There is persuasive evidence showing community sentences, in certain circumstances, are more effective than short custodial sentences in reducing reoffending. The MoJ study ‘The impact of short custodial sentences, community orders and suspended sentence orders on re-offending’ published in 2015 found that over a 1-year follow up period, a higher proportion of people re-offended having been sentenced to custody of under 12 months without supervision on release than other similar people given community orders.

Unless we tackle the underlying causes of offending, we cannot protect the public from being victims of crime. Effective community orders can address offenders’ behaviour, answer their mental health and alcohol or drug misuse needs, and provide reparation for the benefit of the wider community.

Data on the highest number of previous cautions and convictions for a selected offence type for a person who received their first immediate custodial sentence for the selected offence type, covering the period year ending September 2016 – year ending September 2018, can be viewed in the table.

The data provided in the accompanying response table is sourced from MoJ's extract of the Police National Computer. As benefit fraud offences are not prosecuted by the police, we are unable to answer PQ230707.

Caution should be exercised in drawing general conclusions from this data. By definition these are the very extremes of the system – the individuals with the very most convictions. Most significantly the 2015 study suggests that giving a short custodial sentence to a prolific offender is more, not less, likely to result in them committing another offence after custody, compared to giving them a community sentence.