---

Offensive Weapons

Answer

The number of individuals, aged 18 or younger (a) proceeded against and (b) received a custodial sentence for having a bladed or pointed article in a public place in England and Wales, in 2010 and 2011, can be viewed in the following table.

Defendants aged 18 or under proceeded against at magistrates courts and sentenced to immediate custody at all courts for having an article with a blade or point in a public place, England and Wales, 2010-111,2
	Proceeded against	Sentenced to immediate custody
2010	1,613	130
2011	1,474	126
1 The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 2 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

123506; 551 cc686-7W

Session

2012-13

Subjects

Prosecutions Offensive weapons Prison sentences Young people

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk