# Average Time From Arrest To Sentence For Persistent Young Offenders: October 2008

Ministry of Justice Statistics bulletin Published: 8 January 2009

## 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 56 days in October 2008, 3 days lower than in September 2008.
- The overall average time from arrest to sentence for cases sentenced in
magistrates' courts was 47 days in October 2008 - equalling the figure for the previous month.
- Cases sentenced in the Crown Court took an average of 184 days from
arrest to sentence during October 2008, down 26 days from September 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 October 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 October 2008 was 56 days, 3 days lower than in 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 October 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 47 days, equalling the figure for the previous month.

## Cases Sentenced At The Crown Court

The average time from arrest to sentence for cases sentenced at the Crown Court during October 2008 was 184 days, down 26 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 Crown Court and time spent in Crown Court proceedings after committal.  However, it is not possible to provide a breakdown of these periods separately. The average arrest to sentence times for cases sentenced at the Crown Court and magistrates' courts between January 1999 and October 2008 are shown separately in figure 2 below.

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## 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 (August - October 2008) was 39, as shown in figure 3 and 4 below.

|  System   |  areas    | within    | target    | by roll   | ing thr   |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|

ending October 2008Figure 4: Geographical spread of Criminal Justice System areas within target by rolling three-month arrest to sentence averages - rolling quarter ending October 2008

| Table    | 1: A   | verage number o   |
|----------|--------|-------------------|
| f da     | ys     | f                 |
| rom      | arr    | est to            |
| sen      | ten    | ce for            |
| per      | sis    | tentyo            |
| ung      |        |                   |
| off      |        |                   |
| en       | ders i |                   |
| n En     | gl     | and an            |
| d Wa     | le     | s                 |

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) Full application of the new methodology (to remove double counting of Arrest to Charge survey time) required the recalculating of time-series figures.  This has resulted in the substantive changes on the previously published numbers.

(2) 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.

| Table    | 2: A   | verage number o   |
|----------|--------|-------------------|
| f da     | ys     | from              |
| arre     |        |                   |
| st       |        |                   |
| to       | sente  |                   |
| nce      | fo     | r pers            |
| iste     |        |                   |
| nt       |        |                   |
| yo       | ung of |                   |
| fend     |        |                   |
| ers      |        |                   |
| s        | entenc |                   |
| ed a     | t      | Magist            |
| rate     |        |                   |
| s'       |        |                   |
| Co       | urts i |                   |
| n En     | gl     | and an            |
| d Wa     | le     | s                 |

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) Full application of the new methodology (to remove double counting of Arrest to Charge survey time) required the recalculating of time-series figures.  This has resulted in the substantive changes on the previously published numbers.

(2) 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.

| Table    | 3: A   | verage number o   |
|----------|--------|-------------------|
| f da     | ys     | from              |
| arre     | st     | to se             |
| nten     | ce     | for p             |
| ersi     |        |                   |
| ste      |        |                   |
| nt       | young  |                   |
| off      |        |                   |
| end      |        |                   |
| ers      | sent   |                   |
| ence     | d a    | t the             |
| Cro      |        |                   |
| wn       |        |                   |
| Cou      | rt in  |                   |
| Eng      | lan    | d and             |
| Wal      | es     |                   |

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) Full application of the new methodology (to remove double counting of Arrest to Charge survey time) required the recalculating of time-series figures.  This has resulted in the substantive changes on the previously published numbers.

(2) 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.

Table 4:
 Average 
number of 
days from
 arrest to
 sentence
 (three-mo
nthrollin
g averages
) for per
sistent yo
ung offen
ders i
44
n England and Wal
es
 a
nd
 b
y 
Cr
iminal Justi
ce
 A
re
a 
fr
om
 March 2008 to
 O
ct
ob
er
 2
008
48 57
55
63 49
43
53 60
49 78 67 58

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-gb/practitioners/MonitoringPerformance/ReducingDelays Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office:
Press Office Ministry of Justice 10th Floor 102 Petty France London   SW1H 9AJ Tel: 020 3334 3536
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 8.02, 8th Floor 102 Petty France London SW1H 9AJ Tel: 020 3334 3095
Email: trushar.pandya@justice.gsi.gov.uk General enquires about the statistical work of the Ministry of Justice can be emailed to: statistics.enquiries@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