§ 17. Mr. Patchettasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his Department has any proposals to publish more detailed statistics on the age, sex or race of victims of crime.
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Table A—Defendants proceeded against at all courts for sexual offences where the victim is known to be aged 16 or under England and Wales Number of persons 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 Buggery with a boy under the age of 16 or with a woman or an animal 139 199 192 139 200 172 180 Attempt to commit buggery with a boy under the age of 16 or with a woman or an animal 20 9 10 5 8 12 14 Indecent assault on a male person under 16 581 610 571 613 597 592 578
§ Mr. MellorWe already include analysis of the relevant characteristics of victims in appropriate publications and will continue to do so. This year, for example, we have published two reports—the research study "Personal Violence" and Statistical Bulletin 29 of 1986—giving detailed information on victims of violent crime.
§ 49. Mr. Tony Lloydasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state for each year since 1978 the number of victims of crime recorded by his Department who were (a) children under the age of six years, (b) children aged six to 15 years inclusive.
§ Mr. MellorInformation on the ages of victims of crime is not regularly collected centrally except in the case of homicide. Estimates of the numbers of children under 16 who were victims of certain violent and sexual offences recorded by the police in 1984 have been published in table 2 of Home Office Statistical Bulletin issue 29/86. The readily available information on the number of defendants proceeded against for certain sexual offences against children is given in the tables for the years 1979 to 1985. For other types of offence it is not possible, from the results of court proceedings held centrally, to distinguish the age of the victim. The information provided on those offences marked with an asterisk in the tables is published in "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales", supplementary tables vols 1 and 4 S1.1 (A) and S4.1 (A-D). Figures for offences of this kind are liable to be affected by variations in reporting and recording of offences and in the practice of bringing prosecutions.
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Defendants proceeded against and found guilty of certain sexual offences where the victim is known to be aged 16 or under
England and Wales
Year Number proceeded against Number found guilty 1979 3,819 3,465 1980 3,746 3,418 1981 3,296 2,979 1982 3,343 2,921 1983 3,233 2,855 1984 3,167 2,732 1985 3,356 2,983
1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 Indecent assault on a female person under 16 1,915 1,869 1,624 1,694 1,573 1,531 1,705 Unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 13* 102 104 87 87 126 115 137 Unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 16* 728 571 500 449 425 434 405 Incest with a girl under 13 40 62 37 54 38 54 55 Inciting girl under 16 to have incestuous sexual intercourse 10 5 8 8 3 — 1 Householder permitting unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 16 10 5 7 9 7 11 5 Person responsible for girl under 16 causing or encouraging her prostitution etc. 2 4 4 5 1 3 — Abduction of unmarried girl under 16 20 16 10 11 12 11 11 Gross indecency with children1 252 292 246 269 243 232 265 Total 3,819 3,746 3,296 3,343 3,233 3,167 3,356
Table B—Defendants found guilty at all courts for sexual offences where the victim is known to be aged 16 or under England and Wales Number of persons 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 Buggery with a boy under the age of 16 or with a woman or an animal 123 147 147 126 149 118 150 Attempt to commit buggery with a boy under the age of 16 or with a woman or an animal 20 15 10 5 12 22 17 Indecent assault on a male person under 16 533 562 509 506 533 511 526 Indecent assault on a female person under 16 1,700 1,685 1,458 1,492 1,356 1,281 1,445 Unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 13* 85 102 81 71 103 83 110 Unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 16* 663 566 487 419 422 414 395 Incest with a girl under 13 51 52 32 45 40 49 57 Inciting girl under 16 to have incestuous sexual intercourse 8 6 7 7 7 — 3 Householder permitting unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 16 5 5 7 7 3 6 3 Person responsible for girl under 16 causing or encouraging her prostitution etc. 3 3 4 3 4 3 — Abduction of unmarried girl under 16 19 11 8 9 6 8 11 Gross indecency with children1 255 264 229 231 220 237 266 Total 3,465 3,418 2,979 2,921 2,855 2,732 2,983
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Table C Defendants proceeded against at all courts for certain offences of violence against the person where the victim is known to be aged 16 or under England and Wales Number of persons 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 Indictable offences Murder of infant under 1 year of age 6 1 1 5 7 — 6
1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 Infanticide* 5 6 9 3 4 4 4 Cruelty to a child 145 141 105 116 105 104 112 Summary offence Cruelty to a child 6 6 8 14 6 2 3 TOTAL 162 154 123 138 122 110 125
Table Defendant found guilty at all courts for certain offences of violence against the person where the victim is known to be 16 or under England and Wales Number of persons 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 Indictable offences Murder of infant under 1 year of age 1 — — — 1 — — Infanticide* 8 7 11 3 9 7 3 Cruelty to a child 139 147 104 103 87 104 91 Summary offence Cruelty to a child 4 4 5 10 2 1 2 TOTAL 152 158 120 116 99 112 96