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Written question asked by John Hayes (Conservative) on Tuesday, 19 February 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 21 February 2008. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Wednesday, 23 April 2008 on behalf of the Home Office.


Criminal Records: Young People

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people under the age of 18 years gained a criminal record in each year since 1997.
Answer

Although annual figures for each year since 1997 are not available, the Statistical Bulletins on juvenile re-offending published by the Ministry of Justice show quarterly figures for the number of offenders aged 10-17, who at the time of receiving a reprimand, final warning or conviction had no previous offences.Figures are available for cohorts of offenders from the first quarters of 2000, 2004 and 2005. The cohorts are constructed in order to measure re-offending and therefore exclude juveniles receiving custodial sentences but include juveniles discharged from custody during each quarter.The numbers of juveniles with no previous offences in each of the quarterly cohorts were as follows:

Number
2000 21,546
2004 23,379
2005 24,739

These figures have been derived from the police's administrative IT. system, which, as with any large scale recording system, is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.


Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
188571; 474 c2148-9W
Session
2007-08
Subjects
Criminal records Young people
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk