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Homosexual Offences
Ms Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been in each of the last three years of 16 to 18 year old men for offences involving consenting homosexual acts. [39987]
Mr. Michael: Information for 1994 to 1996 (latest available) is given in the table. It does not include offences such as male rape or indecent assault on a male. It should be noted that section 145 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (which came into force in November 1994) amended section 12 of the Sexual Offences Act 1967--by lowering from 21 to 18 the age at which men may lawfully perform consenting homosexual acts in private.
| Year/offence | Aged 16 | Aged 17 | Aged 18 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Buggery offences | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cautioned | 5 | 3 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prosecuted | 9 | 13 | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Convicted | 4 | 6 | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Indecency between males | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cautioned | 3 | 5 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prosecuted | 1 | 3 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Convicted | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1995 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Buggery offences | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cautioned | 1 | -- | -- | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prosecuted | 3 | 3 | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Convicted | -- | 5 | 3
| Indecency between males
| Cautioned | 1 | 1 | 2
| Prosecuted | -- | 4 | 4
| Convicted | -- | 2 | 1
| |
| 1996 |
| Buggery offences |
| Cautioned | 3 | 1 | --
| Prosecuted | 4 | -- | 2
| Convicted | 1 | -- | 1
|
| Indecency between males
| Cautioned | 2 | 5 | 1
| Prosecuted | -- | -- | 1
| Convicted | -- | -- | 1
| | |||||||||||
(2) Includes persons proceeded against in earlier years or for other offences.
30 Apr 1998 : Column: 191
Racial Incidents
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to change the method of recording racial incidents in order to record more accurately (a) the nature of incident, (b) the local distribution and (c) the ethnic origin of the victim or the offender. [39958]
Mr. Michael: At present, individual forces submit their racial incidents figures to Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary at the end of each financial year on the basis of the Association of Chief Police Officers definition of a racial incident:
- "Any incident in which it appears to the reporting or investigating officer that the complaint involves an element of racial motivation, or any incident which includes an allegation of racial motivation made by any person".
The figures are not broken down into the nature of the incidents, the local distribution or the ethnic origin of the victim or offender. However, some forces hold such information locally.
The Association of Chief Police Officers have recently published a Good Practice Guide for the Police Response to Racial Incidents which advises police forces that it is essential to keep an accurate record of the number and types of racial incidents that are reported to ensure that management information is available to inform resource deployment and to monitor trends. It also advises that information should be shared with other local partnership agencies.
The Home Office will, however, look at the way in which the racial incidents figures are submitted centrally and will consider ways for improving the recording of information in consultation with the police.
Mr. Allan:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he plans to publish the revised Code of Practice on Intrusive Surveillance; and if he will make a statement. [40077]
30 Apr 1998 : Column: 192
Mr. Michael:
We intend to lay the draft code of practice on intrusive surveillance before Parliament during the Summer. Detailed work is continuing on a number of fronts in relation to Part III of the Police Act 1997 with a view to implementing the provisions as quickly as possible.
Mr. Allan:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of the (a) male and (b) female population (i) under 30 and (ii) over 30 years of age has committed at least one (1) minor criminal offence and (2) serious criminal offence. [40026]
Mr. Michael:
The information that is available centrally on the prevalence of offending relates solely to convictions for standard list offences. These include all indictable offences and some of the more serious summary offences (a complete list can be found in Appendices 4 and 5 of Criminal Statistics England and Wales, 1996, Cm 3764). There is no standard definition for seriousness among these offences.
Information on prevalence of offending is contained in "Criminal careers of those born between 1953 and 1973" (Home Office Statistical Bulletin 14/95). It is estimated that among males born in 1953, 31 per cent. had been convicted of a standard list offence by the age of 30, and 34 per cent. before the age of 40. Comparable figures for females were 7 per cent. and 8 per cent. No figures are available for age 40 and over.
Mr. Allan:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convictions there were for (a) violent crime, (b) car crime, (c) serious crime and (d) in total, in each year since 1988 for which figures are available. [40021]
| Offence description | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Violent crime(3) | Car crime(4) | Serious crime(5) | Total crime(6) |
| 1988 | 65.5 | 32.7 | (7)396.7 | (7)1,604.9 |
| 1989 | 70.9 | 29.8 | (7)348.8 | (7)1,583.5 |
| 1990 | 69.2 | 30.3 | (7)352.1 | (7)1,562.7 |
| 1991 | 63.6 | 30.5 | (7)346.8 | (7)1,519.9 |
| 1992 | 61.6 | 24.9 | (7)330.1 | (7)1,528.4 |
| 1993 | 57.3 | 22.1 | 307.6 | 1,425.3 |
| 1994 | 58.4 | 21.6 | 314.1 | (7)1,424.6 |
| 1995 | 57.5 | 20.1 | 302.2 | (7)1,429.7 |
| 1996 | 59.7 | 20.1 | 300.6 | (7)1,440.8 |
(3) Includes the indictable offence groups of violence against the person, sexual offences and robbery and the summary offences of common assault.
(4) Includes the indictable offences of theft from a vehicle, theft or unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle, aggravated vehicle taking and the summary offences of stealing and unauthorised taking of a conveyance and aggravated vehicle taking.
(5) Taken as all indictable offences.
(6) Taken as all indictable, summary non motoring and summary motoring offences.
(7) Includes allowance for known shortfalls in the data. It is not possible to produce estimates for the more detailed offence categories.
30 Apr 1998 : Column: 193
Victims of Crime
Mr. Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the percentage of young people who have been victims of crime; and if he will make a statement. [40023]
Mr. Michael: While it is difficult to make a dependable estimate of the overall percentage of young people who have been victims of crime, a good deal of information is available from the 1992 British Crime Survey (BCS), the 1993 Youth Lifestyle Survey (YLS), and from a special data collection exercise on violent crime recorded by the police.
According to the 1992 BCS, 60 per cent. of 12 to 15 year olds had experienced a theft, non-family assault and/or harassment in the six to eight months prior to the survey. Most of these incidents were not judged to be crimes by the victim: 18 per cent. had experienced something they regarded as a crime. The full findings are
30 Apr 1998 : Column: 194
published in Home Office Research Study 140 'Young people, victimisation and the police: British Crime Survey findings on experiences and attitudes of 12 to 15 year olds', available in the Library.
The 1993 YLS found that 51 per cent. of young people aged 14 to 25 had experienced one incident or more of vandalism, theft, violence or threats in the 12 months preceding the survey. 29 per cent. had experienced theft, 23 per cent. vandalism, 17 per cent. violence and 13 per cent. threats. The YLS will be conducted again later this year, providing up to date findings on the victimisation of young people.
(8) Including buggery offences
(9) Represents the number of victimisations per 100,000 population in each respective age group
30 Apr 1998 : Column: 193
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