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Prison Sentences

Asked by Neil O'BrienConservativeMinistry of JusticeTabled Answered 31 July 2024UIN 1345

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average sentence length in months was for people who received an immediate custodial sentence and had (a) zero, (b) between one and four, (c) between five and nine, (d) between 10 and 15, (e) between 16 and 25, (f) between 26 and 50, (g) between 51 and 75, (h) between 76 and 100 and (i) 101 or more previous convictions in each year since 2007.

Answered by Sir Nicholas Dakin

The information requested is provided in the table attached with this answer. These tables include data covering 2007 to 2023, on the average custodial sentence length of offenders with a specified number of previous convictions who were sentenced to immediate custody.

This data is not regularly published or held in an easily accessible format. The information supplied has been sourced from a complicated retrieval from the Police National Computer database.

It should be noted that sentencing decisions in individual cases are for the independent judiciary.

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