§ Mr. Alex CarlileTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of those convicted(a) twice and (b) more than twice for each of the last five years for each offence for which a lift sentence is imposable by discretion, were sentenced to (i) life, (ii) a determinate sentence of (1) 20 years or more, (2) 15 years or more, (3) 10 years or more and (4) under 10 years by type of offence; in respect of how many of those cases, in each category, the Attorney-General referred the sentence to the Court of Appeal; and if he will make a statement. [23033]
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Table 1: Offenders convicted twice of an offence carrying a discretionary life sentence Sentence length Offence1 2 Less than 10 years 10 years or more 15 years or more 20 years or more Life Total Manslaughter Number 4 — — — — 4 Percentage 100 — — — — 100 Wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm Number 25 2 — — — 27 Percentage 93 7 — — — 100 Possession of firearms with intent Number 1 — — — — 1 Percentage 100 — — — — 100 Buggery Number 2 1 — — — 3 Percentage 67 33 — — — 100 Rape Number 6 1 — — 3 10 Percentage 60 10 — — 30 100 Aggravated burglary Number 2 1 — — — 3 Percentage 67 33 — — — 100 Robbery Number 70 1 — — — 71 Percentage 99 1 — — — 100 Kidnapping Number 2 — — — — 2 Percentage 100 — — — — 100 False imprisonment Number 3 — — — — 3 Percentage 100 — — — — 100 Arson Number 8 — — — — 8 Percentage 100 — — — — 100 All offenders Number 123 6 — — 3 132 Percentage 93 5 — — 2 100 1 Previous convictions are for any offence carrying a discretionary life sentence. 2 There are several offences which carry a discretionary life sentence for which there were no second convictions in the sample weeks. These are attempted murder, unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl aged under 13, incest with a girl aged under 13, conspiring to commit murder, endangering railway passengers, hijacking, criminal damage endangering life, possession or use of explosives with intent to endanger life or to do grievous bodily harm.
§ Miss Widdecombe[holding answer 26 March 1996]: The information requested is not collected routinely and data for each of the last five years are not available. A sample of those convicted in five weeks of 1993–94 for indictable offences includes 1,086 offenders convicted of offences carrying a discretionary life sentence. Some 132 offenders in the sample had been convicted twice of offences carrying a discretionary life sentence and 50 had been convicted more than twice. The sentence length given to these repeat offenders in the sample is shown for each offence in the tables. Information is not available on referrals to the Court of Appeal for the offenders included in the sample. 603W
Table 2: Offenders convicted more than twice of an offence carrying a discretionary life sentence Sentence length Offence1 2 Less than 10 years 10 years or more 15 years or more 20 years or more Life Total Manslaughter Number 1 — — — — 1 Percentage 100 — — — — 100 Wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm Number 6 1 — — — 7 Percentage 86 14 — — — 100 Buggery Number 1 — — — — 1 Percentage 100 — — — — 100 Rape Number 1 — — — 1 2 Percentage 50 — — — 50 100 Robbery Number 32 — — — 1 33 Percentage 97 — — — 3 100 Kidnapping Number 2 — — — — 2 Percentage 100 — — — — 100 False imprisonment Number 3 — — — — 3 Percentage 100 — — — — 100 Arson Number 1 — — — — 1 Percentage 100 — — — — 100 All offenders Number 47 1 — — 2 50 Percentage 94 2 — — 4 100 1 Previous convictions are for any offence carrying a discretionary life sentence. 2 There are several offences which carry a discretionary life sentence for which there were no second convictions in the sample weeks. These are attempted murder, unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl aged under 13, incest with a girl aged under 13, conspiring to commit murder, endangering railway passengers, hijacking, criminal damage endangering life, possession or use of explosives with intent to endanger life or to do grievous bodily harm