§ Mr. Dellasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will make a statement on the results of his recent research into the working of Home Office circulars 188/1968 and 189/1968.
§ Mr. CarlisleThese circulars commended to courts the practice, in certain categories of case, of obtaining a social inquiry report before passing sentence. A sample of offenders, sentenced in November, 1970 by the higher courts and by magistrates' courts, who fell in the recommended categories showed that reports were considered in 92 per cent. of applicable cases that came before the higher courts. Magistrates' courts considered social inquiry reports in 82 per cent. of cases where the offender was 325W sent to a detention centre; in about 70 per cent. of cases where women were sentenced to imprisonment—including a suspended sentence—and in 37 per cent. of cases in which a man received a first sentence of imprisonment—including a suspended sentence.
Between 1968 and 1970 the number of social inquiry reports prepared on adults appearing in magistrates' courts increased from 66,405 to 91,336.