HC Deb 22 January 2004 vol 416 cc1444-6W
Vera Baird

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary Department of Constitutional Affairs what the Appeal Court must conclude for a sentence to be reduced. [145969]

Mr. Leslie

Section 11(3) of the Criminal Appeals Act 1968 provides that an appeal may be allowed against sentence if the appellant may be sentenced "differently" from the way in which he was sentenced in the Crown Court. The Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) will always interfere and quash a sentence if it considers it "manifestly excessive". In addition there are a number of other reasons why an appeal against sentence may succeed. Circumstances between the date of sentence and the hearing of the appeal may change. For example, the CACD may be provided with information about help given by the individual defendant to the prosecuting or prison authorities, which justifies a reduction in sentence. The CACD itself often seeks and is provided with reports from prison, which may give grounds for concluding that although the sentence imposed at the Crown Court is not open to criticism, the sentence has had the necessary impact, and is no longer appropriate. This is of particular importance where the offender is young and his rehabilitation may progress more rapidly if, having served some time in custody, a community sentence was now imposed on him. Changes in relation to sentencing policy may also affect the result of a sentence appeal, where, for example, new "guidelines" have been provided after the sentence was imposed. Other circumstances which may affect the decision of the CACD include sentences imposed following procedural errors, or those which may create a justifiable sense of grievance because of sentences passed on other defendants.

Vera Baird

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs (1) how many appeals(a) against sentence and (b) against conviction have been (i) successful and (ii) allowed in each of the last five years as a percentage of the total number of committals for trial for (A) the crown court and (B) magistrates court; [146017]

(2) how many sentencing decisions were made by each judge in the (a) crown court and (b) Court of Appeal in each of the last five years; [146060]

(3) how many sentencing decisions each serving circuit judge in England and Wales made in each of the last five years. [146061]

Mr. Leslie

We do not have this information in the form requested. We do not measure how many sentencing decisions individual judges make, and this will vary according to the types of case they deal with and the complexity and length of cases they hear. There are currently 604 Circuit Judges, Senior Circuit Judges and equivalents, and 1,326 Recorders; not all of whom sit in criminal cases.

In the five years to 2002, the Crown Court dealt with the following committals for trial or sentence:

Committals for trial
Receipts Disposals
1998 75,815 77,794
1999 74,232 73,539
2000 71,022 72,762
2001 80,551 75,565
2002 83,449 81,776

Committals for sentence
Receipts Disposals
1998 29,774 28,224
1999 31,928 30,641
2000 27,591 28,713
2001 25,960 25,717
2002 28,837 28,235

In the same period the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) heard the following full appeals, excluding applications for leave to appeal which were dismissed. It should be tooted that cases heard in the Court of Appeal in a given year may well not have been heard by the Crown Court in the same year.

Conviction Sentence:
Allowed Dismissed Allowed Dismissed Retrials

ordered
1998 290 403 1,589 609 73
1999 171 380 1,564 614 70
2000 150 333 1,284 522 72
2001 135 313 1,101 561 58
2002 166 319 1,302 500 50

In the same period criminal proceedings were commenced in the magistrates' courts against the following numbers of defendants. These figures include all criminal prosecutions commenced, whether or not they were contested or proceeded to a full trial.

Year
1998 1,951,915
1999 1,881,765
2000 1,904,677
2001 1,837,733
2002 1,924,828

In the same period the Crown Court heard the following numbers of appeals. These did not necessarily relate to prosecutions in magistrates' courts in the same year. These figures do not include appeals from the magistrates; courts to the High Court by way of case stated.

Appeals
Receipts Disposals
1998 16,278 16,473
1999 15,413 15,381
2000 13,902 14,359
2001 12,596 12,679
2002 11,910 11,940