§ Chris RuaneTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many young people aged 18 to 20 years have a criminal record by region expressed as(a) a percentage and (b) total number, ranked in descending order according to percentages for the latest date for which figures are available. [30593]
§ Mr. Denham[holding answer 30 January 2002]: The latest available information relates to an analysis of a cohort of people born in 1978. Of the 307,000 males and 289,000 females born in 1978 it is estimated that 14.8 per cent of males and 3.0 per cent of females had a conviction for a standard list offence by the age of 20. No information is available on the number of persons with cautions, reprimands or final warnings.
Information is not held centrally on the address of an offender. However the police force area in which an offender received his or her most recent conviction can be used as a proxy. The police force areas have been combined to show numbers and percentages convicted by Government Office region.
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Persons born in 1978 with a conviction for one or more standard list offences whilst aged 20 or under, by region and gender(1) Males aged 20 or under with a conviction: percentage with most recent conviction in region Females aged 20 or under with a conviction: percentage with most recent conviction in region Number of males aged 20 or under with a conviction, by region of most recent conviction Number of females aged 20 or under with a conviction, by region of most recent conviction West Midlands 10.9 per cent 7.9 per cent 4,900 640 Yorkshire and the Humber 10.1 percent 10.8 per cent 4,600 870 Eastern 8.9 per cent 7.1 per cent 4,000 570 East Midlands 7.9 per cent 11.5 per cent 3,600 920 South West 7.4 per cent 10.2 per cent 3,300 820 Wales 6.6 per cent 5.0 per cent 3,000 400 North East 5.6 per cent 7.8 per cent 2,500 620 (1)The number of persons in the table is obtained by examining the criminal histories of all persons born during four weeks of 1978; the distribution of offences and geographic location is representative of all persons born during 1978; the numbers are scaled to represent all 1978 births. The region shown covers the police force area in which the individual received his or her most recent conviction; any previous convictions could have been recorded in other regions.