The truth about sentencing
Transparency in sentencing is key to support any discussion about how well it works. The purpose of this page is to provide more information about the sentences that are given by the courts, and to paint a picture of the reality of sentencing.
What sentences there are
A sentence has to fulfil five purposes, including punishing offenders and reducing reoffending. There are a range of sentences that judges and magistrates can use to do this.
Sentences for the most serious crimes can only be served entirely through life imprisonment. But other sentences are served entirely in the community, where offenders have to comply with certain conditions such as a curfew.
And some combine prison with time served in the community. These elements together form an offender's full sentence.
More about how sentencing works...
Sentences by offence type
Some sentences are typically more appropriate for certain offences than for others. Find out what sentences judges have been handing out to offenders in the Crown Court since 2005. You can search by court and by offence type.
See also: Breakdown of fines and immediate custody sentences for July 2010 to June 2011
About these statistics
These are based on experimental statistics released in May 2010 by the Ministry of Justice at (http://www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/criminal-justice/criminal-justice-statistics) - feedback on these should be sent to statistics.enquiries@justice.gsi.gov.uk
The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with, i.e. the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed.
While every effort is made to ensure that the figures are accurate and complete please note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces - with the inevitable limitations that such data collection processes entail.
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