- 1. Navigate toMain facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate toThings you need to know section
- 3. Navigate to By ethnicity over time (secure children’s homes and secure training centres) section
- 4. Navigate to By ethnicity (young offender institutions) section
- 5. Navigate toData sources section
- 6. Navigate toDownload the data section
1. Main facts and figures
- in the year ending March 2019, there were 26.2 assaults each month for every 100 white young people in young offender institutions
- in secure training centres and secure children's homes, there were 70.3 assaults for every 100 white young people
- in young offender institutions, there were 37.1 assaults each month for every 100 young people from all other ethnic groups combined – the rate of assaults in secure training centres and secure children's homes was 77.2 assaults each month
- in the 8 years to March 2019, the rate of assaults in secure training centres and secure children’s homes went up by more than 3 times in both ethnic groups
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data shows the number of assaults carried out by young people in custody, by ethnicity.
It also shows the average monthly assault rate for every 100 young people in custody.
'Young people’ are 10 to 17 years old. The data may also include some 18 year olds.
The data includes young people held in:
- young offenders’ institutions
- secure children’s homes and secure training centres (combined)
Numbers and rates are rounded to 1 decimal point, but were calculated using unrounded figures.
How assault rates are calculated
The assault rate is the average number of incidents for every 100 young people in custody each month, based on 12 months of data.
The ethnic groups used in the data
Data is shown for 2 ethnic groups:
- white ethnic groups, including white British and white ethnic minorities
- other – all other ethnic minorities
This is because the number of young people was too small to make reliable generalisations about specific ethnic groups.
Young people in custody report their own ethnicity, which staff then record.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document for the data on this page.
Some young people may be involved in more than one incident, in which case they will be included in the data more than once.
There are more white young people in custody compared with other ethnic groups. You can read more about how group size affects the reliability of data.
Data for young offenders’ institutions includes fights and assaults. Figures broken down by ethnicity are based on the number of assailants involved, not the number of incidents. A single incident may involve more than one assailant.
Data for secure children’s homes and secure training centres only includes assaults. It does not include fights. Incidents in which the assault victim fights back are counted as 2 assaults rather than one, as long as the victim was not acting in self defence.
Because of differences in collecting data on assaults, you should not compare assaults in young offender institutions with assaults in secure children’s homes and secure training centres.
3. By ethnicity over time (secure children’s homes and secure training centres)
| White | Other than White | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | White Rate of incidents per 100 young people in custody per month | White Average population in custody | White Average number of assaults per month | Other than White Rate of incidents per 100 young people in custody per month | Other than White Average population in custody | Other than White Average number of assaults per month |
| 2011/12 | 18.4 | 402.0 | 74.0 | 25.2 | 189.6 | 47.8 |
| 2012/13 | 19.7 | 359.2 | 70.8 | 18.0 | 169.6 | 30.5 |
| 2013/14 | 20.0 | 347.8 | 69.4 | 22.6 | 163.8 | 37.1 |
| 2014/15 | 24.0 | 272.5 | 65.4 | 27.9 | 155.8 | 43.4 |
| 2015/16 | 26.6 | 258.8 | 68.8 | 31.3 | 130.3 | 40.8 |
| 2016/17 | 38.1 | 209.4 | 79.8 | 64.3 | 103.8 | 66.8 |
| 2017/18 | 55.8 | 223.7 | 124.8 | 81.6 | 111.1 | 90.7 |
| 2018/19 | 70.3 | 173.0 | 121.6 | 77.2 | 119.5 | 92.3 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity over time (secure children’s homes and secure training centres)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity over time (secure children’s homes and secure training centres)’ (CSV)
Summary of Assaults by young people in custody By ethnicity over time (secure children’s homes and secure training centres) Summary
The data shows that:
- in the 8 years from April 2011 to March 2019, the average rate of assaults per 100 white young people went up by over 3 times, from 18.4 to 70.3 per month
- the average rate of assaults per 100 young people from all other ethnic groups combined also went up by 3 times, from 25.2 to 77.2 per month
- in the year ending March 2019, the rate of assaults by white young people in custody reached its highest point in the 8 years covered by this data
- the rate for young people from all other ethnic groups combined peaked at 81.6 in the year ending March 2018, before going down to 77.2 per month
4. By ethnicity (young offender institutions)
| Ethnicity | Rate of incidents per 100 young people in custody per month | Average population in custody | Average number of assaults per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 26.2 | 408.9 | 107.3 |
| Other than White | 37.1 | 410.8 | 152.6 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity (young offender institutions)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity (young offender institutions)’ (CSV)
Summary of Assaults by young people in custody By ethnicity (young offender institutions) Summary
The data shows that, on average each month in young offender institutions:
- there were 26.2 assaults for every 100 white young people in custody
- there were 37.1 assaults for every 100 young people from all other ethnic groups combined
5. Data sources
Source
Youth justice statistics: 2018 to 2019
Type of data
Administrative data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
Ministry of Justice
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The data is used by the government to develop, monitor and evaluate criminal justice policy for young offenders in England and Wales.
6. Download the data
This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, year, institution, value, numerator, denominator