HC Deb 23 November 1983 vol 49 cc203-4W
Mr. Willie W. Hamilton

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many persons, separately enumerated for each category of conviction, who were fined in the district court on conviction of (a) petty assault, (b) breach of the peace, (c) being drunk and incapable and (d) being drunk and disorderly were subsequently received into prison for fine default in each of the past five years for which figures are available; in each case, what percentage of the total number fined for that particular offence that number represented; for the same categories of conviction over the same period, what number and percentage of those were given no time to pay; and of that number, what number and percentage were subsequently received into custody for fine default.

Mr. Ancram

The numbers of persons received into custody in default of payment of a fine who were sentenced in district courts for the specified offences are set out m table 1, which also gives these figures expressed as a percentage of the numbers of persons fined for each offence in the year.

Information is collected on the number of fine defaulters imprisoned who had been given no time to pay, and this is given in table 2. Information is not, however, collected on the number of those fined who were given no time to pay. It is therefore not possible to say what proportion of those given no time to pay were imprisoned in default.

Table 1: Fine defaulters received into custody sentenced by district court,* Scotland
Offence Category 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982
Petty assault
Fine defaulters received into custody 76 37 48 133 121
Fine defaulters as a percentage of persons fined in the year 2.1 0.9 1.2 2.9 2.9
Breach of the peace
Fine defaulters received into custody 1,326 1,259 1,176 1,271 1,697
Fine defaulters as a percentage of persons fined in the year 6.7 6.2 5.5 5.3 7.8
Drunk and Incapable
Fine defaulters received into custody 738 605 606 579 647
Fine defaulters as a percentage of persons fined in the year 8.1 6.1 6.1 7.5 9.7
Drunk and disorderly
Fine defaulters received into custody 16 27 14 9 14

Offence Category 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982
Fine defaulters as a percentage of persons fined in the year 10.3 11.7 6.0 4.7 6.4
* Including the stipendiary magistrate court.
Provisional.
Including habitual drunkenness.

Table 2: Fine defaulters received into custody sentenced by district courts,* Scotland, given no time to pay
Offence Category 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982
Petty assault 13 5 11 19 21
Breach of the peace 458 417 426 318 368
Drunk and incapable 361 298 343 249 259
Drunk and disorderly 5 4 2 1 3
* Including the stipendiary magistrate court.
Including habitual drunkenness.

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