Average length of custodial sentences

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Last updated 2 March 2018 - see all updates

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1. Main facts and figures

  • from 2009 to 2016, the average length of custodial sentences given to offenders increased for all ethnic groups

  • in each year during the same period, White offenders were given the shortest custodial sentences on average, and Asian or Black offenders were given the longest

  • in 2016, among all age and ethnic groups, White juvenile offenders (aged under 18 years) were given the shortest custodial sentences on average (at 14 months)

  • among female offenders, Black and Asian offenders were given the longest average custodial sentences compared with other ethnic groups

Things you need to know

Where an offender was sentenced for more than one offence, the data includes the offence for which the offender was given the heaviest penalty - for example, an immediate custodial sentence rather than a fine.

Ethnicity wasn’t known or declared for about 1 in 5 offenders. The analysis here only considers offenders for whom ethnicity was known.

What the data measures

The data measures the average custodial sentence length in months for offenders given an immediate custodial sentence by a court.

The data is broken down by ethnicity, age, gender and type of offence (‘offence group’).

Figures are based on the length of immediate custodial sentences given in court, not the length served by the offender.

The data doesn’t include life sentences or other custodial sentences where there is no set end date (known as ‘indeterminate sentences’).

There are three broad types of offence:

  • indictable-only offences, such as murder, rape or robbery, which can only be heard in the Crown Court
  • offences that are triable either way, which means they can be heard in either a magistrates’ court or in the Crown Court, and include offences like theft from shops and handling stolen goods
  • summary offences, such as speeding and TV licence evasion, which are heard in a magistrates’ court

This data only measures indictable-only offences and offences that are triable either way (also called ‘either way’ offences).

Different offences within the same offence group often carry different sentence lengths – for example, murder and grievous bodily harm are both classified as ‘violence against the person’.

Offenders are classified by age group as follows:

  • juveniles are aged under 18 years
  • young adults are aged between 18 and 20 years
  • adults are aged 21 years and over
The ethnic categories used in this data

This data uses the following broad ethnic groups based on the 2001 Census:

  • Asian/Asian British
  • Black/African/Caribbean/Black British
  • Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups
  • White
  • Other ethnic group (including Chinese)

There is also a ‘not stated’ category, made up of people whose ethnicity wasn’t known or who chose not to declare it. About 1 in 5 offenders were in this category. This analysis excludes those in the ‘not stated’ category.

2. Average custodial sentence length by ethnicity of offender over time

Location:
England and Wales
Time period:
2009 to 2016
Source:
Criminal justice statistics
Average custodial sentence length (in months) by ethnicity of offender over time
Year Asian Black Mixed White Chinese and other
ACSL (months) ACSL (months) ACSL (months) ACSL (months) ACSL (months)
2009 19 20 16 15 17
2010 20 21 17 15 17
2011 22 23 18 16 17
2012 22 23 20 16 17
2013 23 24 19 17 19
2014 25 25 20 17 19
2015 25 25 20 18 21
2016 25 24 21 18 23

Download table data for ‘Average custodial sentence length by ethnicity of offender over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Average custodial sentence length by ethnicity of offender over time’ (CSV)

Summary of Average length of custodial sentences Average custodial sentence length by ethnicity of offender over time Summary

This data shows that:

  • on average, White offenders were given the shortest custodial sentences every year from 2009 to 2016, compared with all other ethnic groups

  • in 2016, on average, Asian and Black offenders were given the longest sentences at 25 and 24 months respectively

  • the average custodial sentence length increased for all ethnic groups from 2009 to 2016 – the biggest increase was for Asian offenders (from 19 to 25 months) and Chinese and Other offenders (from 17 to 23 months)

  • in 2016, the difference in the average custodial sentence length between Asian and White offenders was 7 months

3. Average custodial sentence length by ethnicity and age group of offender

Location:
England and Wales
Time period:
2009 to 2016
Source:
Criminal justice statistics
Average custodial sentence length (in months) by ethnicity and age group of offender over time
Asian Black Mixed White Chinese and other
Year Asian Juveniles Asian Young adults Asian Adults Black Juveniles Black Young adults Black Adults Mixed Juveniles Mixed Young adults Mixed Adults White Juveniles White Young adults White Adults Chinese and other Juveniles Chinese and other Young adults Chinese and other Adults
2009 16 21 19 15 24 20 13 18 16 11 14 15 13 21 17
2010 14 21 20 17 25 21 14 18 18 12 15 15 18 18 16
2011 17 24 22 16 26 23 14 19 18 12 16 16 13 21 17
2012 16 24 22 17 27 23 15 22 20 12 17 16 13 17 17
2013 15 23 23 19 27 24 17 22 19 13 19 17 13 16 19
2014 17 25 25 19 27 25 16 24 19 13 17 17 14 17 20
2015 21 26 25 18 24 26 21 22 20 15 18 18 15 19 22
2016 21 23 25 16 25 24 20 23 20 14 18 18 16 21 24

Download table data for ‘Average custodial sentence length by ethnicity and age group of offender’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Average custodial sentence length by ethnicity and age group of offender’ (CSV)

Summary of Average length of custodial sentences Average custodial sentence length by ethnicity and age group of offender Summary

This data shows that:

  • in 2016, Asian adults (aged 21 years and over) and Black young adults (aged 18 to 20 years) were given the longest custodial sentences on average, at 25 months for both groups

  • in all 3 age groups, White offenders were given the shortest custodial sentences on average

  • among juveniles (aged under 18 years), Asian offenders were given the longest sentences, at 21 months on average

  • there was a difference of 9 months between the average sentences given to Black juveniles (16 months) and Black young adults (25 months), the largest difference between age groups of the same ethnicity

4. Average custodial sentence length by ethnicity and sex of offender

Location:
England and Wales
Time period:
2009 to 2016
Source:
Criminal justice statistics
Average custodial sentence length (in months) by ethnicity and sex of offender over time
Asian Black Mixed White Chinese and other
Year Asian Men Asian Women Black Men Black Women Mixed Men Mixed Women White Men White Women Chinese and other Men Chinese and other Women
2009 20 16 21 14 17 8 15 9 17 12
2010 20 15 22 14 18 11 15 9 17 13
2011 22 18 23 16 18 14 16 10 18 12
2012 23 15 24 16 20 14 16 10 18 12
2013 23 14 25 14 20 10 18 10 19 9
2014 25 19 25 14 21 9 18 10 19 17
2015 25 19 26 15 21 12 19 10 22 14
2016 25 14 25 14 22 10 19 10 24 12

Download table data for ‘Average custodial sentence length by ethnicity and sex of offender’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Average custodial sentence length by ethnicity and sex of offender’ (CSV)

Summary of Average length of custodial sentences Average custodial sentence length by ethnicity and sex of offender Summary

This data shows that:

  • in 2016, female offenders were given shorter custodial sentences on average than male offenders in every ethnic group

  • Asian and Black offenders were given the longest sentences on average for both male offenders (at 25 months) and female offenders (at 14 months)

  • White offenders were given the shortest custodial sentences on average for both male offenders (at 19 months) and female offenders (at 10 months, the same average as offenders of Mixed ethnicity)

5. Average custodial sentence length by ethnicity of offender and type of offence

Location:
England and Wales
Time period:
2016
Source:
Criminal justice statistics
Average custodial sentence length (in months) by ethnicity of offender and type of offence
Asian Black Mixed White Chinese and other
Ethnicity Asian ACSL Asian Number sentenced Black ACSL Black Number sentenced Mixed ACSL Mixed Number sentenced White ACSL White Number sentenced Chinese and other ACSL Chinese and other Number sentenced
Violence against the person 28 192 36 236 26 166 20 457 32 83
Sexual offences 58 101 63 111 57 59 60 310 58 54
Robbery 40 77 45 110 50 66 45 169 47 33
Theft offences 8 161 10 209 11 159 9 396 8 102
Criminal damage and arson 26 47 22 56 24 25 28 209 46 14
Drug offences 38 155 34 218 35 148 32 284 29 101
Possession of weapons 20 108 18 189 12 97 12 279 19 60
Public order offences 7 110 7 136 7 93 6 240 7 43
Miscellaneous crimes against society 13 179 10 212 8 115 10 372 11 100
Fraud offences 24 111 16 120 13 55 17 199 23 54

Download table data for ‘Average custodial sentence length by ethnicity of offender and type of offence’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Average custodial sentence length by ethnicity of offender and type of offence’ (CSV)

Summary of Average length of custodial sentences Average custodial sentence length by ethnicity of offender and type of offence Summary

This data shows that:

  • for offences of violence against the person, Black offenders had the longest average sentence (at 36 months) and White offenders had the shortest (at 20 months)

  • for drugs offences, Asian offenders had the longest average sentence (at 38 months) and Chinese and Other offenders had the shortest (at 29 months)

  • Asian and Black offenders had a longer average sentence for possession of weapons (at 20 and 18 months respectively), compared with White and Mixed offenders (both at 12 months)

  • among all ethnicities and offence groups, the shortest average sentence was for public order offences committed by White offenders (at 6 months)

6. Methodology

The analysis uses administrative data from courts.

Related publications

Race and the criminal justice system

Quality and methodology information

7. Data sources

Source

Type of data

Administrative data

Type of statistic

Official statistics

Publisher

Ministry of Justice

Publication frequency

Quarterly

Purpose of data source

The data is used by the government to develop, monitor and evaluate criminal justice policy. It reports on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales, giving information for the latest year and longer-term trends.

8. Download the data

ACSL by ethnicity and sex - Spreadsheet (csv) 3 KB

This file contains the following: year, ethnicity, sex and ACSL.

ACSL by ethnicity and age group - Spreadsheet (csv) 20 KB

This file contains the following: year, ethnicity, age group, ACSL, numerator and denominator.

ACSL by ethnicity - Spreadsheet (csv) 7 KB

This file contains the following: year, ethnicity, ACSL, numerator and denominator.

ACSL by ethnicity and offence group - Spreadsheet (csv) 3 KB

This file contains the following: ethnicity, offence group, denominator and ACSL.

Publication release date: 17 January 2018

Updated: 2 March 2018

full page history
  1. minor corrections for style
  2. First published

From: Ministry of Justice

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