1. Main facts and figures
- in 2017, the number of defendants remanded in custody at the Crown Court fell for all ethnic groups compared with the years from 2014 to 2016
- in 2017, defendants with Mixed ethnicity were more likely than any other ethnic group to be remanded in custody
- from 2012 to 2017, White defendants were consistently less likely to be remanded in custody, and consistently more likely to have a remand status of ‘not remanded’, than any other ethnic group
- in every year since 2009, male defendants were more likely than female defendants to be remanded in custody in every ethnic group
- in 2017, Black juvenile defendants, and those from Other (including Chinese) backgrounds, were more likely to be remanded in custody than remanded on bail, unlike defendants from the same age groups in most other ethnic groups
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data measures the percentage of defendants at Crown Court who were either remanded on bail or custody, or not remanded.
Remand is the way people charged with a crime are dealt with until court hearings are completed. They can be:
- remanded on bail, meaning they are allowed to return home until the court hearing (sometimes with certain conditions)
- remanded in custody, which means they are held in prison
- not remanded – for example, because they were given an immediate custodial sentence
Percentages are rounded to 1 decimal place.
Not included in the data
Magistrates' courts are not included because there is not enough ethnicity data for defendants dealt with by those courts.
The data does not include details of the offence for which the defendant has been charged. It is likely that the severity of the offence will influence the type of remand status given to the defendant.
The ethnic groups used in the data
The data uses the ethnic groups from the 2001 Census. It does not include people whose ethnicity was unknown or who chose not to declare it (about 1 in 5 defendants).
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document (PDF opens in a new window or tab) for the data on this page.
The data counts individual defendants rather than cases. Multiple defendants are counted for one case, where applicable.
Each defendant is only counted once, even if multiple offences are committed. If a defendant has been found guilty of 2 or more offences, the data includes the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed.
In the data file
See Download the data for data by:
-
estimates by age
-
estimates by sex
-
estimates by remand status
-
estimates by police force area
3. By ethnicity over time (remands in custody only)
| Asian | Black | Mixed | White | Other including Chinese | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Asian % | Asian Number | Black % | Black Number | Mixed % | Mixed Number | White % | White Number | Other inc Chinese % | Other inc Chinese Number |
| 2009 | 36.5 | 2,303 | 47.9 | 4,710 | 43.5 | 1,001 | 31.8 | 21,106 | 52.1 | 911 |
| 2010 | 34.4 | 2,829 | 45.5 | 5,373 | 40.1 | 1,269 | 32.3 | 26,633 | 50.2 | 1,092 |
| 2011 | 34.7 | 2,887 | 45.8 | 5,544 | 42.1 | 1,467 | 34.1 | 28,274 | 45.7 | 938 |
| 2012 | 34.6 | 2,526 | 45.3 | 4,743 | 41.5 | 1,304 | 33.1 | 23,803 | 44.6 | 813 |
| 2013 | 34.8 | 2,383 | 46.0 | 4,377 | 43.0 | 1,257 | 34.8 | 23,460 | 46.8 | 770 |
| 2014 | 37.0 | 2,454 | 47.1 | 4,388 | 44.8 | 1,259 | 36.8 | 25,111 | 44.3 | 678 |
| 2015 | 36.7 | 2,478 | 45.8 | 4,190 | 42.8 | 1,199 | 36.5 | 24,623 | 43.7 | 694 |
| 2016 | 36.3 | 2,251 | 42.8 | 3,876 | 41.2 | 1,034 | 34.9 | 20,894 | 39.2 | 532 |
| 2017 | 36.2 | 2,054 | 42.6 | 3,586 | 43.5 | 937 | 35.8 | 18,780 | 40.4 | 465 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity over time (remands in custody only)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity over time (remands in custody only)’ (CSV)
4. 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.
5. Download the data
This file contains the following variables: Measure, Year, Sex, Age group, ethnicity, remand status, count, denominator, value
This file contains the following variables: Measure, Year, Sex, Age Group, Ethnicity, Remand Status, Police Force Area, Count, Denominator, Value