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Convictions: Hunting Act 2004

Answer

The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts, and the number of offenders cautioned, in England and Wales for offences under the Hunting Act 2004, from 2005 to 2008 (latest available) can be viewed in the following table.Cautions and court proceedings data for 2009 are planned to be published in the autumn, 2010.

The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts, and the number of offenders cautioned¹, ² for offences under the Hunting Act 2004³, England and Wales, 2005 to 20084, 5, 6
Offence description	Year	Proceeded against	Found guilty	Cautioned
Hunting a wild mammal with a dog - sections 1 and 6	2005	2	2	1
	2006	10	4	—
	2007	57	44	8
	2008	41	31	4
Knowingly permitting land to be entered or used in the course of hunting a wild mammal with dogs—sections 3(1) and 6	2005	—	—	—
	2006	—	—	—
	2007	1	—	—
	2008	—	—	—
Knowingly permitting a dog to be used in the course of hunting a wild mammal—section 3(2) and 6	2005	—	—	—
	2006	1	1	—
	2007	—	—	—
	2008	—	—	—
Participating in a hare coursing event - sections 5(1)(a) and 6	2005	—	—	—
	2006	—	—	—
	2007	—	—	—
	2008	1	—	—
Attending a hare coursing event - sections 5(1)(b) and 6	2005	—	—	—
	2006	—	—	—
	2007	—	—	—
	2008	2	2	—
Permitting a dog to participate in a hare coursing event—section 5(2)	2005	—	—	—
	2006	—	—	—
	2007	4	4	—
	2008	—	—	—
All offences	2005	2	2	1
	2006	11	5	—
	2007	62	48	8
	2008	44	33	4
¹ The cautions statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been cautioned for two or more offences at the same time the principal offence is the more serious offence.
² From 1 June 2000 the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into force nationally and removed the use of cautions for persons under 18 and replaced them with reprimands and warnings. These figures have been included in the totals.
³ Came into force on 18 February 2005.
4 The court proceedings statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
5 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.
6 Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008.
Source:
Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

508 c1056-8W; 324881

Session

2009-10

Subjects

Prosecutions

Legislation

Hunting Act 2004

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk