The figure, of 1.58 million people between July 2018 and June 2019, represents a fall of two per cent on the previous year. Meanwhile, the number of defendants prosecuted at magistrates’ courts, 1.37 million in the same period, has continued to decline since June 2016 and also fell by two per cent.
In the same period, police recorded crime rose overall by six per cent to 5.3m offences, excluding fraud.
The latest statistics, published last week, also found that the conviction ratio remained stable at 87%, while 10% fewer defendants were remanded on bail by the police and the custody rate decreased 6.5% to 74,800, the lowest since 2009.
While fewer suspects are being prosecuted, those who are convicted are spending longer in prison―average custodial sentence lengths have been steadily rising since June 2009, from 16.3 to 20.3 months for indictable offences and from 13.5 to 17.4 months overall.
Richard Atkins QC, Chair of the Bar Council said: ‘It will be a major concern to victims of crime and anyone who cares about the criminal justice system that the figures show that while recorded crime has been rising, prosecutions and out of court disposals have fallen.
‘The inescapable fact is that the disproportionate cuts to the criminal justice budget over many years has broken the system. Only a considerable investment in the criminal justice system by the next government will reverse the damage and restore public confidence.’
In her ‘Monday Message’ blog, Criminal Bar Association chair, Caroline Goodwin QC cited a recently published Institute of Government report, ‘The Performance Tracker 2019’. The report noted criminal cases have decreased in number but increased in complexity, requiring the courts to ‘make savings to meet demands’.
