§ Baroness Anelay of St Johnsasked Her Majesty's Government: How many prisoners have been released on the home detention curfew scheme since January 1999; what were the categories of offences for which they had been sentenced; how many such prisoners were released in each category; and, in relation to each category, what was the average sentence received. [HL2973]
§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal):The requested information, for the period 28 January 1999 to 30 April 2004, is provided in the table.
The table includes releases relating to sexual offenders. These were eligible to be considered for release under the home detention curfew (HDC) until March 2001. Since then prisoners subject to the registration requirements of Part 1 of the Sex Offenders Act 1997 (now replaced by Part 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003) are statutorily excluded from the scheme and all other prisoners convicted of a sexual offence are presumed unsuitable for release on HDC. In addition, since 14 July 2003 prisoners convicted of certain serious offences including offences involving the death of the victim, attempted murder, threats to kill and racially aggravated offences are presumed unsuitable for release unless there are exceptional circumstances.
HDC discharges by office type 28 January 1999 to 30 April 2004 Average sentence (months) Total 92,280 14.5 Violence against the person 16,717 14.8 Sexual offences 97 11.4 Burglary 8,596 19.6 Robbery 4,417 27.9 Theft and handling 12,319 11.0 Frauds and forgery 6,505 13.4 Drugs offences 13,323 22.2 Motoring offences 14,372 5.4 Other 15,934 12.8