## 

 Average Time From Arrest To Sentence For Persistent Young Offenders: February 2008 Ministry of Justice Statistics bulletin 
  
 
Published: 9 May 2008 

## Executive Summary Background

This Bulletin presents the latest figures on the average time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders. These figures are used to monitor the pledge to halve the average time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders in England and Wales from 142 days in 1996 to 71 days. 

## Main Points

- The average time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders 
in England and Wales was 62 days in February 2008, equalling the figure for January 2008.   
- The overall average time from arrest to sentence for cases sentenced in 
magistrates' courts was 51 days in February 2008 - down 2 days from the previous month.   
- Cases sentenced in the Crown Court took an average of 207 days from 
arrest to sentence during February 2008, down 15 days from January 
2008.   

## Average Interval From Arrest To Sentence The Bulletin

This bulletin contains statistics on the average time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders in England and Wales. This bulletin presents figures for February 2008.  In-year figures for 2008 will be revised as more data is entered onto the Police National Computer, and when the arrest dates survey for 2008 has been completed - please see the Notes section for further details.  
The main body of the bulletin is organised in three parts.  This first part contains commentary on the latest figures, the second has detailed tables of results, and the final part comprises of notes on the pledge and methodology used and also includes contact points for enquires. 

## England And Wales

The average time between arrest and sentence for persistent young offenders during February 2008 was 62 days, equalling the figure for the previous month. Further figures can be found in table 1 (page 6).  A graph showing monthly progress from January 1997 is shown in figure 1 below. 

## Cases Sentenced At Magistrates' Courts

For February 2008, cases sentenced at magistrates' courts represented 93 per cent of all persistent young offender cases.  As table 2 (page 7) shows, the overall average time from arrest to sentence for these cases was 51 days, down 2 days om the previous month. 

fr

## Cases Sentenced At The Crown Court

The average time from arrest to sentence fo r cases sentenced at the Crown Court during February 2008 was 207 days, down 15 days from the previous month.  For further figures please see table 3 (page 8). Cases sentenced at the Crown Court include both time spent in magistrates' courts before committal to the o Crown Court and time spent in Crown Court proceedings after committal.  However, it is not possible to provide a breakdown f these periods separately. 

## 

The average arrest to sentenc e times for cases sentenced at the Crown Court and magistrates' courts between January 1999 and February 2008 are shown separately in figure 2 below. 

## Criminal Justice System Areas

A breakdown by criminal justice area on a three-month rolling average basis is shown in table 4 (page 9). 

On this basis, the number of areas achieving the 71-day target in the latest period (December 2007 - February 2008) was 37, as shown in figure 3 and 4 below. 


Table 1: Average number of days from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders in England and Wales 
Period 
Days 
Number of cases 


1996 
 
142 
- 
1997 
 
141 
16,010 
1998 
 
125 
18,605 
1999 
 
108 
21,151 
2000 
 
93 
23,130 
2001 
 
76 
25,393 
2002 
 
68 
26,116 
2003 
 
66 
26,083 
2004 
 
69 
26,363 
2005 
 
68 
27,037 
2006 
 
72 
28,252 
2007 
 
65 
30,683 


2006 
January - March 
74 
7,177 
 
April - June 
72 
7,034 
 
July - September 
71 
7,134 
 
October - December 
72 
6,907 
2007 
January - March 
 72  
 7,813 
 
April - June 
 67  
 7,928 
 
July - September 
 62  
 7,766 
 
October - December 
60 
7,176 


2007 
January 
 72  
 2,618 
 
February 
 70  
 2,486 
 
March 
 73 
 2,709 
 
April  
 70 
 2,530 
 
May 
 67  
 2,733 
 
June 
 64  
 2,665 
 
July 
 64  
 2,690 
 
August 
 62  
 2,668 
 
September 
 60  
 2,408 
 
October 
 62  
 2,688 
 
November 
 59 
 2,625 
 
December 
 61  
 1,863 
2008(1) 
January (r) 
62 
2,600 (+10) 
 
February (r) 
62 (+3) 
2,380 (+47) 
 
March (p) 
53 
2,104 

Notes: All period figures denoted by - are not applicable. All period figures denoted by (r) are based on revised data and replace those provided in the last bulletin in the series. 

All period figures denoted by (p) are based on provisional data. (1) 1. In-year figures for 2008 will be revised as when the arrest dates from the annual Arrest to Charge survey for 2008 
 

Table 2: Average number of days from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders sentenced at Magistrates' Courts in England and Wales 
Period 
 
Days 
Number of cases 


1999 
 
96 
18,851 
2000 
 
82 
21,145 
2001 
 
68 
23,752 
2002 
 
61 
24,280 
2003 
 
58 
24,480 
2004 
 
61 
24,698 
2005 
 
60 
25,498 
2006 
 
63 
26,529 
2007 
 
57 
28,904 


2006 
January - March 
65 
6,712 
 
April - June 
64 
6,639 
 
July - September  
62 
6,704 
 
October - December 
62 
6,474 
2007 
January - March 
 63  
 7,351 
 
April - June 
 58 
 7,469 
 
July - September 
 54  
 7,332 
 
October - December 
51 
6,752 


2007 
January 
64 
2,484 
 
February 
61 
2,350 
 
March 
63 
2,517 
 
April  
61 
2,372 
 
May 
58 
2,585 
 
June 
56 
2,512 
 
July 
56 
2,554 
 
August 
54 
2,500 
 
September 
51 
2,278 
 
October 
52 
2,527 
 
November 
50 
2,487 
 
December 
50 
1,738 
2008(1) 
January (r) 
53 
2,447 (+9) 
 
February (r) 
51 
2,210 (+45) 
 
March (p) 
46 
1,975 

 


Notes: All period figures denoted by (r) are based on revised data and replace those provided in the last bulletin in the series. 

All period figures denoted by (p) are based on provisional data. (1) 1. In-year figures for 2008 will be revised as when the arrest dates from the annual Arrest to Charge survey for 2008 
are collected in March 2009. 

 

young offenders sentenced at the Crown Court in England and Wales 
|                    | Period           | Days    | Number of cases    |
|--------------------|------------------|---------|--------------------|
|                    |                  |         |                    |
| 1999               |                  | 212     | 2,271              |
| 2000               |                  | 218     | 1,976              |
| 2001               |                  | 196     | 1,632              |
| 2002               |                  | 174     | 1,829              |
| 2003               |                  | 187     | 1,588              |
| 2004               |                  | 186     | 1,653              |
| 2005               |                  | 191     | 1,526              |
| 2006               |                  | 214     | 1,704              |
| 2007               |                  | 206     | 1,769              |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
| 2006               |                  |         |                    |
| January - March    |                  |         |                    |
| 212                | 460              |         |                    |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
| April - June       |                  |         |                    |
| 217                | 387              |         |                    |
|                    | July - September | 210     | 426                |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
| October - December |                  |         |                    |
| 220                | 431              |         |                    |
| 2007               |                  |         |                    |
| January - March    |                  |         |                    |
| 210                | 459              |         |                    |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
| April - June       |                  |         |                    |
| 206                | 456              |         |                    |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
| July - September   |                  |         |                    |
| 197                | 433              |         |                    |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
| October - December |                  |         |                    |
| 213                | 421              |         |                    |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
| 2007               |                  |         |                    |
| January            |                  |         |                    |
| 213                | 132              |         |                    |
|                    | February         | 214     | 136                |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
| March              |                  |         |                    |
| 206                | 191              |         |                    |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
| April              |                  |         |                    |
| 208                | 156              |         |                    |
|                    | May              | 216     | 148                |
|                    | June             | 193     | 150                |
|                    | July             | 200     | 136                |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
| August             |                  |         |                    |
| 187                | 167              |         |                    |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
| September          |                  |         |                    |
| 207                | 130              |         |                    |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
| October            |                  |         |                    |
| 220                | 160              |         |                    |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
| November           |                  |         |                    |
| 213                | 138              |         |                    |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
| December           |                  |         |                    |
| 204                | 123              |         |                    |
| 2008               |                  |         |                    |
| (1)                |                  |         |                    |
|                    | January (r)      | 222     | 146 (+1)           |
|                    | February         | 207     | 167                |
|                    |                  |         |                    |
|                    |                  |         |                    |

Notes: All period figures denoted by (r) are based on revised data and replace those provided in the last bulletin in the series. 

All period figures denoted by (p) are based on provisional data. (1) In-year figures for 2008 will be revised as when the arrest dates from the annual Arrest to Charge survey for 2008 are collected in March 2009. 

 

Area (1) 
Jul 07 to 
Sep 07 (r) 
Aug 07 to 
Oct 07 (r) 
Sep 07 to 
Nov 07 (r) 
Oct 07 to 
Dec 07 (r) 
Nov 07 to Jan 08 (r) 
Dec 07 to 
Feb 08 


Avon and Somerset 
66 
68 
67 
67 
66 
67 
Bedfordshire 
74 
64 
69 
69 
66 
58 
Cambridgeshire 
53 
56 
53 
54 
49 
56 
Cheshire 
45 
47 
45 
38 
32 
35 
Cleveland 
60 
55 
58 
60 
63 
63 
Cumbria 
64 
66 
65 
51 
53 
52 
Derbyshire 
58 
53 
53 
52 
53 
48 
Devon and Cornwall 
59 
54 
53 
58 
60 
61 
Dorset 
59 
62 
71 
65 
54 
62 
Durham 
46 
47 
50 
52 
48 
55 
Dyfed-Powys 
41 
40 
50 
53 
52 
45 
Essex 
53 
57 
54 
55 
53 
55 
Gloucestershire 
78 
82 
64 
64 
73 
72 
Greater Manchester 
65 
63 
60 
62 
62 
61 
Gwent 
72 
74 
55 
40 
43 
53 
Hampshire 
57 
59 
62 
64 
64 
68 
Hertfordshire 
73 
64 
72 
67 
95 
74 
Humberside 
59 
61 
57 
57 
58 
62 
Kent 
69 
71 
67 
59 
60 
66 
Lancashire 
55 
56 
57 
63 
66 
65 
Leicestershire 
67 
66 
64 
59 
63 
69 
Lincolnshire  
59 
50 
52 
41 
43 
55 
Merseyside 
57 
67 
68 
80 
71 
66 
Metropolitan  
67 
65 
66 
69 
72 
73 
Norfolk 
47 
56 
52 
56 
53 
58 
North Wales 
51 
56 
46 
49 
45 
58 
North Yorkshire 
61 
68 
73 
65 
60 
62 
Northamptonshire 
65 
61 
55 
48 
55 
58 
Northumbria  
76 
72 
71 
64 
61 
59 
Nottinghamshire 
66 
58 
54 
53 
58 
65 
South Wales 
83 
68 
56 
56 
61 
62 
South Yorkshire 
61 
57 
56 
65 
73 
75 
Staffordshire 
49 
50 
49 
48 
51 
60 
Suffolk 
60 
61 
63 
52 
52 
45 
Surrey 
43 
40 
40 
51 
66 
81 
Sussex 
62 
54 
53 
60 
64 
67 
Thames Valley 
59 
60 
66 
71 
65 
66 
Warwickshire 
55 
53 
44 
38 
49 
45 
West Mercia 
68 
74 
63 
60 
50 
44 
West Midlands 
56 
54 
51 
51 
53 
55 
West Yorkshire 
57 
60 
60 
63 
59 
61 
Wiltshire 
68 
75 
78 
75 
61 
65 


British Transport Police 
71 
60 
66 
67 
69 
61 


England and Wales 
62 
61 
60 
60 
61 
62 

Note: All Figures denoted by * are based on 40 or fewer cases and should be interpreted with particular care. 

All period figures denoted by (r) are based on revised data and replace those provided in the last bulletin in the series. (1) The area classification is based on the Police Force that investigated the offence and entered the charge or summons details on the Police National Computer. In a small proportion of cases, prosecution and court proceedings may have been handled in different areas to that which first recorded the cases. 

## Notes To The Pledge The Pledge

1. The original Government pledge was to halve the time it takes to deal with 
persistent young offenders from arrest to sentence in England and Wales from 142 days in 1996 to 71 days by 2002. The timely process of these offenders at the target level remains an ongoing commitment.   
2. Overall responsibility for the pledge is shared jointly by all Criminal Justice 
System departments and agencies.  However, the agency with the lead 
responsibility for overseeing delivery nationally is the Office for Criminal 
Justice Reform.    
3. From 2005, the pledge has been applied to all Criminal Justice System areas, 
who are required to achieve the compliance target on a consistent basis.  The 
Local Criminal Justice Boards are responsible for delivery in the local areas.   
4. Since 1997, this National Statistics bulletin published by the Ministry of Justice 
has presented national and local performance against the target.    

## Notes To The Data And Methodology Data Sources

5. The raw data used to identify persistent young offenders, and to calculate the 
average time interval from arrest to sentence across relevant cases are:   
- the Police National Computer, which is the police's central management 
information database.  The source provides a full collection of cases, and all the variables needed to determine the offenders classification and to contribute to the calculation of performance against the target; and   
- the annual Arrest to Charge survey, which is an annual sample survey 
designed to enable the calculation of robust representative estimates of 
subsidiary time from the initial to the process stage.   
Please see the definitional and calculation rules for details on data usage.   

## Paths Through The System

6. Offenders can take two paths through the Criminal Justice System: 
- one where they are arrested and subsequently processed by the police, 
then listed to appear in court for however many hearings are necessary until the session where the sentence is passed on them; and   
- another where they are reported and information is laid against them by the 
police, then they are summoned to appear in court for however many hearings until the final session where the sentence is passed on them.   

## Definitional Rules

7. The data used to identify whether a defendant found guilty of an offence is a 
persistent young offender comes from the Police National Computer.  Under the counting rules such an offender is: - a young person who is aged 10 to 17 at the point of process, and 18 or 
under at the start of the calendar year in which they are sentenced guilty of an offence;   
- who has been sentenced guilty of offences by any criminal court in the 
United Kingdom on three or more separate occasions in the past for one or more recordable offences on each of the occasions; and   
- within 3 years of the last of these sentencing occasion is subsequently 
arrested and then found guilty of at least one more recordable offence.   
Under this definition, it is possible for young adults aged 18 and 19 years at sentence, but not those aged 20 years or over, to fall in the category.   

## Calculation Rules

8. The full data used to calculate the overall interval between the initial stage 
(arrest or reporting / information laid) and the sentence stage for the cases of persistent young offenders comes from the Police National Computer in the 
main.    
9. However, some additional data from the annual Arrest to Charge survey is 
used in the calculations for an ever-decreasing number of cases.  For this minority of cases, survey results are used as proxy for time from the initial to process (charge or summons) stage, where that time is not recorded on the main data source.  This time is then added to the usually larger interval from process to sentence stage derived from the aforementioned source.   
10. The overall interval is commonly known as the average time from arrest to 
sentence, owing to the fact the vast majority of cases pass through that path. It can essentially be a national, sentencing court type jurisdiction or local area average of the intervals of all relevant cases in a given period.    
 

## Additional Notes National Statistics

11. 
This is a National Statistics publication produced by the Ministry of Justice.  
National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice.  They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs.  They are produced free 
from any political interference. 
 

## The Bulletin

12. 
The Ministry of Justice has produced the figures in this bulletin with assistance 
from the data source owner in the National Policing Improvement Agency.   
13. 
The figures presented in this bulletin are obtained from separate monitoring 
exercises run on successive monthly data extractions from the Police National Computer from 1997.  
14. 
In accordance with the counting rules, the bulletin covers all cases sentenced 
in magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales that are 
recorded on the Police National Computer. 

## The Definition

15. 
A persistent young offender was first defined in the inter-departmental circular 
'Tackling delays in the Youth Justice System' issued on 15 October 1997: 
"A persistent young offender is a young person aged 10-17 who has been sentenced by any criminal court in the UK on three or more separate occasions for one or more recordable offence, and within three years of the last sentencing occasion is subsequently arrested or has an information laid against them for a further recordable offence." 

16. 
Individuals can fall within this definition at the date of sentence.  This happens 
where offenders are brought into the group by virtue of one or more offences committed after but dealt with before the fourth sentencing occasion. Essentially, this rearranges the usual order of counting occasions, so that offences which would not be expected to fall on the final occasion do so; with the longest lasting case then contributing to the arrest to sentence averages. 
 

## The Calculations

17. 
In the instance where an offender is sentenced for more than one offence on 
the fourth sentencing occasion, only the longest running of these cases will 
contribute to the arrest to sentence averages. 

## The Extraction

18. 
All cases in the consecutive counting of sentencing occasions are extracted 
from the source.  However, some of them are then excluded from the 
monitoring exercise because the offences were: - committed outside the United Kingdom, Channel Islands and the Isle of 
Man;   
- handled by a police force outside England and Wales, other than cases 
handled by the British Transport Police;   
- proceeded with in courts outside England and Wales;   
- resulted in no convictions being brought against the offender, for example 
where individuals were acquitted or cases against them discounted; and  
- breaches of previous sentence order, for example probation orders.   
However, from 1 January 2005 breaches of anti-social behaviour orders have been included in the exercise.   

## The Amended Methodology

19. 
From May 2006, all arrest to sentence figures have been calculated using an 
amended methodology.  This new approach has been applied to remove the double counting of Arrest to Charge time for offences processed at arrest, or else that where overall time is recorded on the Police National Computer.   
20. 
The new methodology has been retrospectively applied to backdated periods, 
so that all time-series are consistent within this bulletin and others released 
since the change.  However, changes to statistics published prior to May 2006 may be partly or wholly due to this amendment and are not comparable.   

## The Provisional Statistics

21. 
From April 2007, more up to date statistics have been made available in this 
bulletin.  The introduction of 2 months in arrears statistics has augmented the 
headline 3 month in arrears figures. 
22. 
These provisional statistics were introduced after a longitudinal study of data 
collections from the Police National Computer, which revealed that from 
January 2005 around 95% of records are consistently inputted 2 months in arrears in England and Wales.   
23. 
The collection of more data earlier has meant that 2 months in arrears 
statistics have become closer to the published National Statistics for England 
and Wales and for cases heard in magistrates' courts.  These provisional 
statistics are adjusted in the order reflect observed historical and seasonal fluctuations.   

## The Survey

24. 
The Arrest to Charge survey collects arrest or information laid dates in March 
for a representative sample of cases for the previous calendar year.  
25. 
Respondents in each of the police constabularies and the British Transport 
Police complete the survey forms sent by the Ministry of Justice.  Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary champions the survey, and helps to ensure its prompt completion.   
26. 
In the instance where survey forms contain offenders with more than one 
offence sentenced on a single occasion, only the longest running of these cases will contribute to the survey results. 
27. 
The previous year's survey estimates are used to calculate in-year arrest to 
sentence figures until the current survey results are available.   

## Symbols And Conventions

The following symbols have been used throughout the tables in this bulletin: 

-  
Not applicable 

| 0    |     | Nil           |
|------|-----|---------------|
| ..   |     | Not available |

(r) 
Revised data 
(p) 
Provisional data 
 

## Contact Points For Further Information

Current and previous editions of this publication are available for download at:  
www.justice.gov.uk/publications/averagetimearresttosentencepyo.htm This bulletin, together with other information about delay in persistent young offender cases can also be found on the Youth Justice Board's reducing delays internet site at: 
www.yjb.gov.uk/en-b/practitioners/MonitoringPerformance/ReducingDelays/ 
Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office: 
 
Press Office Ministry of Justice 9th Floor Selborne House 54–60 Victoria Street London   SW1E 6QW Tel: 020 7210 8512 / 8513 Email: press.office@justice.gsi.gov.uk Other enquires about the statistics and requests for additional copies of this bulletin should be directed to: 
Trushar Pandya Economics and Statistics Division Ministry of Justice 5th floor Selborne House 54–60 Victoria Street London   SW1E 6QW Tel: 020 7210 8910 Email: trushar.pandya@justice.gsi.gov.uk General enquires about the statistical work of the Ministry of Justice can be emailed to: esd@justice.gsi.gov.uk Other National Statistics publications and general information about the official statistics system in the UK are available from: www.statistics.gov.uk

##