§ Mr. Alex CarlileTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the peak age of offending for males and females in(a) London and (b) England and Wales in (i) 1979, (ii) 1990 and (iii) the last year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [7701]
§ Mr. MacleanTable A gives information for England and Wales on the peak age of known offending, that is, offenders found guilty or cautioned for indictable offences per 100,000 in the general population in the age group.
Table B gives the readily available information for the Metropolitan police and City of London police force areas on the number of offenders found guilty or cautioned by sex and age.
135W
Table A: Peak age for England and Wales of persons found guilty or cautioned for indictable offences per 100,000 in the general population in the age group; 1979, 1990 and 1995 England and Wales, Indictable offences Peak age Persons found guilty or cautioned per 100,000 Year Males Females Males Females 1979 15 14 7,404 1,639 1990 18 15 7,921 1,999 1995 18 15 8,376 2,115
Table B: Offenders found guilty or cautioned for indictable offences in the Metropolitan and City of London police force areas by age and sex, 1990 and 19951 Males Females Age 1990 1995 1990 1995 10 176 64 30 17 11 291 203 60 61 12 607 516 135 182 13 1,112 830 270 351 14 1,737 1,641 442 580 15 2,475 2,538 509 669 16 2,938 2,908 550 541 17 3,640 3,763 596 557 18 4,357 4,464 667 614 19 4,321 4,109 639 559 20 3,960 3,870 613 543 21 to 24 13,813 12,619 2,394 2,005 25 to 30 13,887 16,636 2,648 3,034 31 and over 15,503 17,984 3,562 3,630 All ages 68,817 72,145 13,115 13,343 1 Information for 1979 by detailed age group is not available centrally.