There is a new version of this page. View the latest version.
- 1. Navigate to Main facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate toBy ethnicity of offender over time section
- 3. Navigate toBy ethnicity and sex of offender section
- 4. Navigate toBy ethnicity and age group of offender section
- 5. Navigate toBy ethnicity of offender and type of offence section
- 6. Navigate to Methodology section
- 7. Navigate to Data sources section
- 8. Navigate to Download the data section
1. Main facts and figures
- from 2009 to 2017, the average length of custodial sentences given to offenders increased for all ethnic groups
- in every year during the same period, White offenders were given the shortest custodial sentences on average, and Asian or Black offenders were given the longest
- in 2017, among all age and ethnic groups, White juvenile offenders (aged under 18 years) were given the shortest custodial sentences on average (at 17 months), as well as those from the Other (including Chinese) group (at 13 months)
- among female offenders, Asian offenders and those from the Other (including Chinese) group were given the longest average custodial sentences compared with all other ethnic groups
Things you need to know
Where an offender was sentenced for more than one offence, the data relates to the offence for which the offender was given the heaviest penalty – for example, an immediate custodial sentence rather than a fine.
Ethnicity wasn’t known or declared for about 1 in 5 offenders. The analysis here only considers offenders for whom ethnicity was known.
Often, the number of people within the ‘Other (including Chinese)’ ethnic group is low. This means that any results within this category should be interpreted with caution.
What the data measures
The data measures the average custodial sentence length in months for offenders given an immediate custodial sentence by a court.
The data is broken down by ethnicity, age, gender and type of offence (‘offence group’).
Figures are based on the length of immediate custodial sentences given in court, not the length served by the offender.
The data doesn’t include life sentences or other custodial sentences where there is no set end date (known as ‘indeterminate sentences’).
There are three broad types of offence:
- indictable-only offences, such as murder, rape or robbery, which can only be heard in the Crown Court
- offences that are triable either way, which means they can be heard in either a magistrates’ court or in the Crown Court, and include offences like theft from shops and handling stolen goods
- summary offences, such as speeding and TV licence evasion, which are heard in a magistrates’ court
This data only measures indictable-only offences and offences that are triable either way (also called ‘either way’ offences).
Different offences within the same offence group often carry different sentence lengths – for example, murder and grievous bodily harm are both classified as ‘violence against the person’.
Offenders are classified by age group as follows:
- juveniles are aged under 18 years
- young adults are aged between 18 and 20 years
- adults are aged 21 years and over
The ethnic categories used in this data
This data uses the following broad ethnic groups based on the 2001 Census:
- Asian/Asian British
- Black/African/Caribbean/Black British
- Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups
- White
- Other (including Chinese)
There is also a ‘not stated’ category, made up of people whose ethnicity wasn’t known or who chose not to declare it. About 1 in 5 offenders were in this category. This analysis excludes those in the ‘not stated’ category.
2. By ethnicity of offender over time
| Year | Asian | Black | Mixed | White | Other inc Chinese |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 19 | 20 | 16 | 15 | 17 |
| 2010 | 20 | 21 | 17 | 15 | 17 |
| 2011 | 22 | 23 | 18 | 16 | 17 |
| 2012 | 22 | 23 | 20 | 16 | 17 |
| 2013 | 23 | 24 | 19 | 17 | 19 |
| 2014 | 25 | 25 | 20 | 17 | 19 |
| 2015 | 25 | 25 | 20 | 18 | 21 |
| 2016 | 25 | 24 | 21 | 18 | 23 |
| 2017 | 27 | 26 | 22 | 18 | 21 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity of offender over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity of offender over time’ (CSV)
Summary of Average length of custodial sentences By ethnicity of offender over time Summary
This data shows that:
- on average, White offenders were given the shortest custodial sentences every year from 2009 to 2017, compared with all other ethnic groups
- in 2017, Asian and Black offenders were given the longest sentences on average, at 27 and 26 months respectively
- the average custodial sentence length increased for all ethnic groups between 2009 and 2017 – the biggest increase was for Asian offenders (from 19 to 27 months)
- in 2017, the difference in the average custodial sentence length between Asian and White offenders was 9 months
3. By ethnicity and sex of offender
| Asian | Black | Mixed | White | Other including Chinese | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Asian Male | Asian Female | Asian Not known | Black Male | Black Female | Black Not known | Mixed Male | Mixed Female | Mixed Not known | White Male | White Female | White Not known | Other inc Chinese Male | Other inc Chinese Female | Other inc Chinese Not known |
| 2009 | 20 | 16 | 3 | 21 | 14 | 2 | 17 | 8 | 5 | 15 | 9 | 2 | 17 | 12 | 1 |
| 2010 | 20 | 15 | 1 | 22 | 14 | 2 | 18 | 11 | 0 | 15 | 9 | 2 | 17 | 13 | 3 |
| 2011 | 22 | 18 | 6 | 23 | 16 | 1 | 18 | 14 | 4 | 16 | 10 | 2 | 18 | 12 | 0 |
| 2012 | 23 | 15 | 0 | 24 | 16 | 2 | 20 | 14 | 1 | 16 | 10 | 2 | 18 | 12 | 3 |
| 2013 | 23 | 14 | 3 | 25 | 14 | 5 | 20 | 10 | 3 | 18 | 10 | 2 | 19 | 9 | 2 |
| 2014 | 25 | 19 | 1 | 25 | 14 | 3 | 21 | 9 | 1 | 18 | 10 | 2 | 19 | 17 | 3 |
| 2015 | 25 | 19 | 2 | 26 | 15 | 4 | 21 | 12 | 2 | 19 | 10 | 2 | 22 | 14 | 3 |
| 2016 | 25 | 14 | 2 | 25 | 14 | 4 | 22 | 10 | 2 | 19 | 10 | 2 | 24 | 12 | 0 |
| 2017 | 27 | 18 | 2 | 26 | 14 | 3 | 23 | 10 | 1 | 19 | 11 | 3 | 21 | 16 | 0 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and sex of offender’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and sex of offender’ (CSV)
Summary of Average length of custodial sentences By ethnicity and sex of offender Summary
This data shows that:
- in 2017, female offenders were given shorter custodial sentences on average than male offenders in every ethnic group
- Asian offenders were given the longest sentences on average for both male offenders (at 27 months) and female offenders (at 18 months)
- White offenders were given the shortest custodial sentences on average for male offenders (at 19 months), and offenders with Mixed ethnicity were given the shortest custodial sentences on average for female offenders (at 10 months)
4. By ethnicity and age group of offender
| Asian | Black | Mixed | White | Other including Chinese | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Asian Juveniles | Asian Young adults | Asian Adults | Black Juveniles | Black Young adults | Black Adults | Mixed Juveniles | Mixed Young adults | Mixed Adults | White Juveniles | White Young adults | White Adults | Other inc Chinese Juveniles | Other inc Chinese Young adults | Other inc Chinese Adults |
| 2009 | 16 | 21 | 19 | 15 | 24 | 20 | 13 | 18 | 16 | 11 | 14 | 15 | 13 | 21 | 17 |
| 2010 | 14 | 21 | 20 | 17 | 25 | 21 | 14 | 18 | 18 | 12 | 15 | 15 | 18 | 18 | 16 |
| 2011 | 17 | 24 | 22 | 16 | 26 | 23 | 14 | 19 | 18 | 12 | 16 | 16 | 13 | 21 | 17 |
| 2012 | 16 | 24 | 22 | 17 | 27 | 23 | 15 | 22 | 20 | 12 | 17 | 16 | 13 | 17 | 17 |
| 2013 | 15 | 23 | 23 | 19 | 27 | 24 | 17 | 22 | 19 | 13 | 19 | 17 | 13 | 16 | 19 |
| 2014 | 17 | 25 | 25 | 19 | 27 | 25 | 16 | 24 | 19 | 13 | 17 | 17 | 14 | 17 | 20 |
| 2015 | 21 | 26 | 25 | 18 | 24 | 26 | 21 | 22 | 20 | 15 | 18 | 18 | 15 | 19 | 22 |
| 2016 | 21 | 23 | 25 | 16 | 25 | 24 | 20 | 23 | 20 | 14 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 21 | 24 |
| 2017 | 18 | 29 | 27 | 20 | 28 | 26 | 19 | 21 | 22 | 17 | 19 | 18 | 13 | 20 | 21 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and age group of offender’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and age group of offender’ (CSV)
Summary of Average length of custodial sentences By ethnicity and age group of offender Summary
This data shows that:
- in 2017, Asian young adults (aged 18 to 20 years) and Black young adults were given the longest custodial sentences out of all combinations of age and ethnic group – their average custodial sentences were 29 and 28 months long respectively
- in both the young adult and adult age groups, White offenders were given the shortest custodial sentences on average, and among juveniles, those from the Other (including Chinese) group were given the shortest average custodial sentence
- among juveniles (aged under 18 years), Black offenders, and those with Mixed ethnicity, were given the longest sentences, at 20 and 19 months on average
- there was a difference of 11 months between the average sentences given to Asian juveniles (18 months) and Asian young adults (29 months), the largest difference between age groups of the same ethnicity
5. By ethnicity of offender and type of offence
| Offence Group | Asian | Black | Mixed | White | Other inc Chinese |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal damage and arson | 43 | 30 | 36 | 30 | 74 |
| Drug offences | 42 | 35 | 34 | 34 | 32 |
| Fraud Offences | 23 | 14 | 17 | 16 | 15 |
| Miscellaneous crimes against society | 16 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 13 |
| Possession of weapons | 25 | 15 | 15 | 12 | 12 |
| Public order offences | 8 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 5 |
| Robbery | 52 | 50 | 56 | 47 | 60 |
| Sexual offences | 58 | 61 | 65 | 60 | 49 |
| Theft Offences | 9 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 11 |
| Violence against the person | 30 | 39 | 26 | 21 | 25 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity of offender and type of offence’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity of offender and type of offence’ (CSV)
Summary of Average length of custodial sentences By ethnicity of offender and type of offence Summary
This data shows that:
- for offences of violence against the person, Black offenders had the longest average sentence in 2017 (at 39 months), and White offenders had the shortest (at 21 months)
- for drugs offences, Asian offenders had the longest average sentence (at 42 months) and offenders from the Other (including Chinese) ethnic group had the shortest (at 32 months)
- Asian offenders had a longer average sentence for possession of weapons (at 25 months), compared with White, and offenders from the Other (including Chinese) ethnic group (both at 12 months)
- among all ethnicities and offence groups, the shortest average custodial sentence was for public order offences committed by offenders from the Other (including Chinese) ethnic group (at 5 months) and White offenders (at 6 months)
- among all ethnicities and offence groups, the longest average custodial sentence was for criminal damage and arson committed by offenders from the Other (including Chinese) ethnic group (at 74 months), followed by sexual offences committed by offenders with Mixed ethnicity at (65 months)
6. Methodology
The analysis uses administrative data from courts.
Suppression rules and disclosure control
Values less than 5 are suppressed, these cells are left blank in the downloadable CSVs.
Rounding
Sentences are rounded to the nearest 1 decimal place (in months)
Related publications
Race and the criminal justice system
Quality and methodology information
Further technical information
Further data and ethnicity breakdowns are available using the annual (year ending December) Criminal Justice Statistics pivot tables.
7. Data sources
Source
Type of data
Administrative data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
Ministry of Justice
Publication frequency
Quarterly
Purpose of data source
The data is used by the government to develop, monitor and evaluate criminal justice policy. It reports on activity in the criminal justice system for England and Wales, giving information for the latest year and longer-term trends.