HC Deb 30 June 1980 vol 987 cc396-8W
Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what proportion of offenders received probation orders for each year since 1960; and if he will break these down into relevant age groups;

(2) what proportion of juvenile offenders were given supervision orders for each year since 1960.

Mr. Brittan

Information for 1968–78 on persons sentenced for indictable offences who were given a probation order or supervision order is published in tables 6.10–6.17 of "Criminal Statistics. England and Wales, 1978" (Cmnd. 7670). The power of the courts to make a probation order in relation to juvenile offenders (under 17) was replaced by the power to make a supervision order on 1 January 1971, when section 7(7) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969 came into force.

The available information for the years 1960–67 is given in the following table; this information is not comparable to that for 1968–78 because it includes probation orders given for an offence other than the principal offence and because of the points noted in the footnotes to the table.

PERCENTAGE OF PERSONS FOUND GUILTY OF INDICTABLE OFFENCES* WHO WERE GIVEN A PROBATION ORDER† AT ALL COURTS BY SEX AND AGE
ENGLAND AND WALES
Percentages
Year All ages Aged 10‡ and under 14 Males Aged 14 and under 17 Aged 17 and under 21 Aged 21 and over All ages Aged 10‡ and under 14 Females Aged 14 and under 17 Aged 17 and under 21 Aged 21 and over
1960 22 36 34 25 10 29 42 43 46 19
1961 21 35 33 23 10 27 40 42 43 18
1962 20 34 33 21 10 25 37 39 42 17
1963 20 34 32 21 10 26 39 40 41 18
1964 19 35 31 19 10 26 38 39 40 18
1965 19 35 31 19 10 25 37 36 39 17
1966 17 35 30 18 9 26 37 37 39 19
1967 18 33 30 18 10 25 34 36 37 19
* Figures not adjusted for the Theft Act 1968 or the Criminal Damage Act 1971.
† Includes persons given a probation order for an additional offence as well as receiving some different sentence for their principal offence.
‡ This group includes persons aged 8 and 9 prior to February 1964 when the age of criminal responsibility was raised to 10.