Prisoners: Females

(asked on 16th May 2019) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women were taken into immediate custody from (a) Crown courts and (b) magistrates courts for sentences of (i) less than and (ii) more than six months for each offence classification in each police force area in England and Wales in 2018-19.


Answered by
Edward Argar Portrait
Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This question was answered on 23rd May 2019

The number of women given a custodial sentence of less than and more than six months, at Magistrates and Crown courts, by offence and police force area in 2018 is published in the Court Outcomes by Police Force Area data tool at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/802045/court-outcomes-by-PFA-2018.xlsx

The requested data can be gathered by:

  • Select the relevant court in the ‘Court Type’ field (Magistrates/Crown)
  • Select ‘2018’ in the ‘Year of Appearance’ field
  • Select ’02: Female’ in the ‘Sex’ field
  • Drag the ‘Offence’ field into Rows
  • Select the relevant sentence lengths in the ‘Custodial Sentence Length’ field (six months or less/ greater than six months)
  • Select the relevant police force area in the ‘Police Force Area’ field

The number of women given a custodial sentence less than and more than six months from each magistrates and Crown court in North Wales in 2018, with corresponding offence, is available in the attached tables.

Our vision, as set out in our Female Offender Strategy, is to see fewer women coming into the criminal justice system and a greater proportion managed successfully in the community.

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.

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