ACS

The Ministry of Justice has released the latest sentencing statistics, which give an overview of the most frequent sanction used for each offence. The report showed that out-of-court punishments accounted for more than half of all offences dealt with by the criminal justice system last year. It also highlighted how few crimes in England and Wales are ever detected with figures amounting to just 1.37m of the 4.9m offences reported to the police. The report divulged the following information in relation to shop theft:

o Burglary in a building other than a dwelling was likely to be punished by community sentences in magistrates’ courts in 2007.
o Offenders sentenced for shoplifting very often had many previous convictions or cautions for shoplifting – 60 per cent had three or more previous sanctions for this offence.
o The equivalent figures for burglary and drunkenness were 38 per cent and 30 per cent respectively.

The number of fixed penalty notices issued has tripled in three years to reach 207,000 last year, an increase of seven per cent on 2006 figures. The figures also show that, despite the increase in on-the-spot fines, only 60 per cent are paid within the 21 days in which payment is required.

ACS Public Affairs Director Shane Brennan said: “These figures show that sentencing for shop crime needs to be tougher, fines and cautions are not effective deterrents for repeat offenders. We are urging Ministers to press for a review of the sanctions for shop theft.”