HC Deb 25 March 1998 vol 309 c197W
Mr. Keetch

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many 15-year-olds have been convicted under section 53 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 in each of the last five years; and of that number, how many who were not previously resident in secure units were placed by him in young offenders' institutions during the same period. [35608]

Mr. Michael

Information held centrally on the Court Proceedings database for the years 1992–1996 (latest available) is given in table A.

Information on the number of 15 year olds who were previously resident in secure units is not collected centrally. The available information relates to the number of 15 year olds received into prison service establishments in England and Wales under section 53 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 and is given in table B.

Table A: Number of 15 year olds sentenced under section 53 of the Children and Young persons Act 1933, 1992–1996
England and Wales
Disposal 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
Section 53(1)—murder offences only 1 1
Section 53(3)—other grave offences 24 42 59 63 90
Total 24 42 60 63 91

Table B: Receptions into prison service establishments in England and Wales of 15 year olds under section 53 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1993–1997
England and Wales
Receptions
1992 16
1993 33
1994 44
1995 44
1996 63
19971 61
1 Provisional

Note:

Information for 1992–1996 (and for other custody types, by age) is published in successive volumes of "Prison statistics, England and Wales" (table 3.9 of the 1993 edition and table 3.10 of the 1994–96 editions), copies of which are in the Library.

Forward to