§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Orpington (Mr. Horam) on 26 June 2000,Official Report, column 396W, on football hooligans, what the basis is for his estimate of the percentage of young males who have a criminal record. [130090]
§ Mr. Straw[holding answer 12 July 2000]: The estimate is based on information contained in Home Office Statistical Bulletin 14–95 which reports an analysis of the criminal histories of a large sample of offenders born in 1953, 1958, 1963, 1968 and 1973. The data confirm that 26 per cent. of men born in 1968 had a conviction for a standard list offence by the age of 24, 33 per cent. of those born in 1963 had a conviction for such an offence by the age of 28 while the comparative figures for those born in 1958 were 31 per cent. with a conviction by the age of 25.