§ Mr. Alex CarlileTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of the(a) male and (b) female population over the age of 30 years has committed at least one (i) minor criminal offence and (ii) serious criminal offence; and if he will make a statement. [7509]
§ Mr. MacleanInformation available centrally on the percentage of the population with a criminal record relates to convictions for standard list offences only. Standard list offences include all indictable offences, including those triable either way, plus the more serious summary offences. All standard list offences are considered to be serious offences.
Results from criminal histories of a sample of offenders born in 1953 indicate that 31 per cent. of males and 7 per cent. of females born in that year were convicted of at 297W least one standard list offence before the age of 30; and that 34 per cent of males and 8 per cent of females were convicted of at least one standard list offence before the age of 40.