Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly: December 2021
Trends in the use of out of court disposals, defendants prosecuted, offenders convicted, remand and sentencing decisions, and offender histories in England and Wales.
Applies to England and Wales
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This report presents key statistics on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales. It provides information up to the year ending December 2021 with accompanying commentary, analysis and presentation of longer-term trends.
Statistician’s Comment:
The figures published today highlight the continued recovery of the criminal justice system since the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on court processes and prioritisation. The number of defendants prosecuted has increased since 2020, though it remains around 19% lower than in 2019. Summary non-motoring prosecutions have recovered at a slower rate than indictable offences.
The custody rate has fallen slightly in the latest year - this is likely due to, at least in part, the continued recovery of the courts. In 2020, during the early stages of the pandemic, courts prioritised the most serious cases, whereas, more of the cases less likely to result in custody flowed through the courts in 2021.
However, for those serious cases resulting in custody, average custodial sentence length continues to increase to a high of 24.9 months for indictable offences. This has increased year-on-year (from 16.8 months in 2011), with the only decrease in 2020 likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Updates to this page
Published 19 May 2022Last updated 26 October 2022 + show all updates
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This page has been updated to include information on issues that have arisen whilst reviewing and improving our data processing since this publication. Although this has a small effect on the overall numbers for prosecutions, convictions and sentencing outcomes, users should consult the known issues tab of the tables and associated tools to understand any impacts on specific offences.
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First published.