Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly: March 2026
Description: Overview of trends in the use of out of court disposals, defendants prosecuted, offenders convicted, remand and sentencing decisions in England and Wales.
Applies to England and Wales
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This report presents key statistics on activity in the Criminal Justice System (CJS) for England and Wales. It provides commentary for the 12-month period to March 2026 (referred to as the ‘latest year’). The contents of this bulletin will be of interest to government policy makers in the development of policy and their subsequent monitoring and evaluation. Others will be interested in the way different crimes are dealt with in the CJS and trends in sentencing outcomes.
Statistician’s comment
In year ending March 2026, overall prosecutions and convictions stabilised following a number of years of increases. While there was a fall in summary non-motoring offences, this was counter-balanced by continued increases in indictable offences, and a peak in summary motoring prosecutions.
The number of offenders convicted and sentenced remained stable on the previous year, following increases since year ending March 2022. The volume of offenders receiving a custodial sentence continues to increase with custody rates rising. The overall custody rate has increased to levels seen five years ago.
At magistrates’ courts, the number of offenders receiving an immediate custody sentence increased markedly and is the highest since year ending March 2017, particularly with sentences between 6 and 12 months doubling over the last year following increased magistrates’ sentencing powers since November 2024.
At the Crown Court, whilst the overall number of offenders sentenced slightly decreased, there were still increases in the number of offenders convicted and receiving a custodial sentence, to the highest level since year ending March 2018.
The overall average custodial sentence length slightly increased, and increased in both magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court, with a particular increase seen in the overall average custodial sentence length for violence against the person.