§ 47. Mr. Richard Wainwrightasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to deal with the problem of overcrowding in many English prisons.
§ Mr. JohnI would refer the hon. Member to my reply to a similar Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdare (Mr. Evans) on 18th November last.—[Vol. 919, c.652–3.]
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§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the index of average length of prison sentence passed by the courts in 1967 and for each of the last five years.
§ Mr. JohnWhen, as in the case of prison sentences, most of the sentences are short and crowded at one end of the scale, leading to a skew distribution, averages can be misleading. But the indices requested are shown in the following table.
IMMEDIATE IMPRISONMENT—INDICES OF AVERAGE LENGTH OF SENTENCE England and Wales Type of Court Year Magistrates' Courts The Crown Court 1967 … 100 100 1971 … 100 95 1972 … 100 100 1973 … 100 100 1974 … 100 95 1975 … 100 95