Restraining Orders
(asked on 20th February 2017) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many restraining orders were issued by courts in England and Wales in each of the last three years; how many of those orders were breached (a) once, (b) twice, (c) three times and (d) on four or more occasions; and for each category of numbers of breaches, how often a custodial sentence was handed down.
The number of restraining orders issued and sentences given for breaches of restraining orders, from 2013 to 2015, in England and Wales, can be viewed in the following tables.
Court proceedings data for 2016 are planned for publication in May 2017.
Table 1: Restraining orders issued by the courts and offenders convicted and sentenced for breach of restraining orders, with sentencing outcomes, England & Wales, 2013 to 2015(1)(2) | |||
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| 2013(3) | 2014 | 2015 |
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Restraining orders issued(4)(5)(6) | 20,356 | 21,508 | 23,057 |
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Offenders convicted of breaching a restraining order |
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Convicted | 6,348 | 7,371 | 8,395 |
Sentenced | 6,205 | 7,083 | 8,194 |
Immediate custody | 2,237 | 2,606 | 2,989 |
Suspended sentence | 827 | 1,068 | 1,346 |
Community sentence | 1,565 | 1,524 | 1,815 |
Fine | 848 | 1,020 | 1,137 |
Absolute discharge | 40 | 47 | 57 |
Conditional discharge | 469 | 532 | 624 |
Otherwise dealt with | 211 | 281 | 221 |
Compensation | 8 | 5 | 5 |
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(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. | |||
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(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. | |||
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(3) Previously issued figures for 2013 have been revised following the receipt of a small amount of late data. | |||
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(4) Includes restraining orders issued on conviction or acquittal. | |||
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(5) Issued under either S.5 Protection from Harassment Act 1997 or S.5A Sex Offenders Act 1997. | |||
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(6) SOPOs replaced restraining orders under s.5A Sex Offenders Act 1997 and sex offender orders under s.2 Crime and Disorder Act 1998. However, it is possible for cases to still appear where an offender is subject to one of the orders that pre-date the Sexual Offences Act 2003. | |||
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Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice. |
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PQ: 64617 |
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Table 2: Offenders convicted for breaching restraining orders and sentences received, England and Wales, April 2013 to March 2016 1,2,3 | ||||||||
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Financial year | Number of breaches | Occasions on which the offender received4 |
| Number of offenders6 | ||||
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| Custodial sentence5 | Non-custodial sentence5 | Total |
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2013/14 | 1 |
| 996 | 2,364 | 3,360 |
| 3,360 |
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| 2 |
| 887 | 1,173 | 2,060 |
| 1,030 |
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| 3 |
| 623 | 568 | 1,191 |
| 397 |
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| 4 or more |
| 1,489 | 909 | 2,398 |
| 446 |
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2014/15 | 1 |
| 1,115 | 2,679 | 3,794 |
| 3,794 |
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| 2 |
| 982 | 1,292 | 2,274 |
| 1,137 |
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| 3 |
| 734 | 673 | 1,407 |
| 469 |
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| 4 or more |
| 1,893 | 1,124 | 3,017 |
| 538 |
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2015/16 | 1 |
| 1,154 | 3,162 | 4,316 |
| 4,316 |
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| 2 |
| 1,131 | 1,545 | 2,676 |
| 1,338 |
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| 3 |
| 939 | 909 | 1,848 |
| 616 |
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| 4 or more |
| 2,191 | 1,350 | 3,541 |
| 635 |
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Source: MoJ's extract of the Police National Computer |
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Notes: |
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1) Figures exclude those who were cautioned rather than convicted |
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2) A restraining order refers to a restraining order under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 Sec.5 | ||||||||
3) Figures refer to convictions in which breach of a restraining order was the main offence | ||||||||
4) Occasion refers to an occasion which an offender is sentenced |
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5) Custodial sentence refers to immediate custodial sentences only. Other sentences are non-custodial | ||||||||
6) The number of breaches an individual offender has been convicted for is taken at the offender's last conviction for the offence in each financial year. The offender may appear in multiple years where they were convicted of the offence in more than one year | ||||||||