§ Mr. AshdownTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his estimate is of the number of young offenders within the Avon and Somerset area who have committed(a) five offences or more, (b) 10 offences of more, (c) 20 offences or more and (d) 50 offences or more; and if he will make a statement. [107844]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeThe exact information requested is not held centrally. However, information is available on the number of recordable offences for which a 1998 sample of persistent young offenders had been convicted.
This indicates that a total of 173 individual persistent young offenders were sentenced on one or more occasions during 1998 following apprehension by the Avon and Somerset police. Of these 33 had been sentenced for a total of between five and nine recordable offences, 64 had been sentenced for between 10 and 19 recordable offences, 65 had been sentenced for between 20 and 704W 49 recordable offences, and 10 had been sentenced for 50 or more recordable offences. The remaining individual had been sentenced for four recordable offences.
We define persistent young offenders as having at least three previous convictions and being apprehended for a further offence within three years of their most recent previous sentence.