Accredited official statistics

Criminal Justice Statistics quarterly: September 2025 (HTML)

Published 29 January 2026

Applies to England and Wales

Main Points

1.59 million individuals were formally dealt with by the Criminal Justice System (CJS)	The number of individuals formally dealt with by the CJS in England and Wales increased by 6% in the latest year.
Out of court disposals increased by 10% from 204,000 to 224,000	In the latest year, there was a 16% increase in community resolutions from 154,000 to 179,000 diving the increase in out of court disposals.
There were 1.37 million prosecutions and 1.21 million convictions in the latest year, both up by 5%	There was a 11% increase in prosecutions for indictable offences.
The volume of defendants remanded in custody at magistrates’ courts increased	In the year ending September 2025, there was a 8% increase in the volume of defendants remanded in custody at magistrates’ court.
The average custodial sentence length (ACSL) for all offence types reduced to 19.9 months and to 22.0 for indictable offences down from 20.4 and 22.6 respectively in the previous year	The overall decrease in ACSL was partly due to an increase in the proportion of sentences that were for theft offences, which attract shorter sentences and partly due to reductions in the average sentence lengths for a number of offence groups.

This publication provides criminal justice statistics for the latest 12-month period, with comparisons made to corresponding periods in previous years where appropriate.

The bulletin is accompanied by overview tables. For technical detail about sources, data quality, and terminology, please refer to the accompanying technical guide to criminal justice statistics.

The publication may include revisions for figures previously published where additional data has become available since those publications.

Introduction

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 of October 2024 to September 2025 (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.

Changes and revisions in this publication

Magistrates’ data development

Please note work remains ongoing to resolve the previously identified data quality concerns regarding published plea counts at the magistrates’ courts, and as such we have removed the plea data from our published magistrates’ data tool.

Following the improvements to data quality and coherence seen as a result of the One Crown project, alongside HMCTS we have commenced the One Magistrates project. This project will review all data we publish concerning the magistrates’ courts and aims to improve quality, coherence and value for users. There is the potential for the magistrates’ courts data series to change as the project develops – we will continue to consult users and outline key areas of change in future releases on this bulletin.

Crown Court data development (“One Crown)

MoJ and HMCTS have worked together on the “One Crown” data project to create a single, consistent and flexible dataset that meets both MoJ and HMCTS needs. This has brought greater transparency, clarity and coherence for all users of the published Criminal Court Statistics series.

Historically the two MoJ published series concerning criminal courts have been produced independently from distinct pipelines which is inefficient and risks undermining transparency. Moving to the same data model will improve the coherence across MoJ, provide a clear set of shared definitions across the topic for users and ensure the data best reflects operational reality of the underlying administrative systems.

This is the first time that this publication has sourced data from the One Crown pipeline.

For further information regarding changes to data definitions and guidance to users on the impact of changes compared to the previously published series please see the accompanying “One Crown Consultation”.

Whilst every effort has been made to transfer the new One Crown pipeline to all published series, some residual work remains relating to the remand status of defendants at the Crown Court. Remands data for the Crown Court up to September 2025 is not being published in this release while we complete this work. To support accessibility within the publication we have reported trends for Crown Court remands with the latest published data series to June 2025. We will expand the Crown Court reporting in the next release provisionally due in April 2026 to include remands data.

For feedback related to the content of this publication, please contact us at CJS_Statistics@justice.gov.uk

Statistician’s comment

The volume of prosecutions and convictions reached their highest levels since year ending September 2017, reflecting the increased demand entering the criminal courts with police charge volumes increasing.

The use of out of court disposals increased in the latest year, reversing a downward trend seen since year ending September 2020. This was due to the continued increase in community resolutions, which now account for around 80% of all out of court disposals.

Prosecutions increased for all indictable offence groups over the last year, and this was true for convictions bar robbery offences. The number of offenders convicted for violence against the person, sexual offences and public order offences reached series highs since comparable records from year ending September 2010.

The number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody continued to increase and is at the highest level seen since year ending September 2017. The latest year shows a slight reduction in the average custodial sentence length, partly driven by an increase in the proportion of sentences that are for theft offences which attract shorter sentence lengths.

1. Overview of the Criminal Justice System

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1.59 million individuals were formally dealt with by the Criminal Justice System (CJS)

The number of individuals^{[footnote 1]} formally dealt with by the CJS^{[footnote 2]} in England and Wales increased by 6% in the latest year, the highest seen since year ending September 2017.

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There were 6.73 million crimes recorded by the police in the latest year, a 1% increase from the year ending September 2024. Levels of police recorded crime (including fraud) have tended to increase over the last decade from 4.33 million in the year ending September 2015. Changes and improvements in police activity and recording practices are a major driver behind the increase in police recorded crime since March 2014.

The number of recorded crimes that resulted in a charge has increased by 14% in the latest year to 513,400 and is the highest seen since year ending September 2017. This increase has partly driven the rise in the flow of more serious indictable offences into the courts.

Out of court disposals increased by 10% in the latest year, back to levels seen in 2017 as a result of increases in community resolutions, which increased by 16%, to a series high at 179,000 (see the Out of Court Disposals chapter). All other types of out of court disposals fell in the latest year.

The number of defendants prosecuted and convicted both increased by 5% in the latest year, the highest seen since 2017. (see the Prosecutions and Convictions chapter).

2. Out of Court Disposals

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The number of out of court disposals (OOCDs) increased on the previous year from 204,000 to 224,000

The total number of OOCDs issued increased by 10% in the latest year. Despite a decrease in all other categories, there was a 16% increase in community resolutions from 154,000 to 179,000.

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Out of court disposals (OOCDs) are sanctions used by the police to address offences without the need to be dealt with at court.

There were around 224,000 OOCDs issued in the year ending September 2025, which represents an increase of 10% when compared to the previous year. This was due to an increase of 16% in community resolutions^{[footnote 3]}, with 179,000 issued - the highest level seen across the time series. Community resolutions now account for 80% of the total number of OOCDs.

There was a collective decrease of 9% (4,300) across all other OOCD types compared to the previous year. Cannabis/khat warnings and penalty notices for disorder (PNDs) decreased by 82% and 18%, respectively, while cautions decreased by 6%.

Around 41,000 offenders received a simple or conditional caution^{[footnote 4]}, representing a 6% decrease when compared to the previous year (44,000). While most offence groups decreased or were similar in year ending September 2025 there were small increases in Fraud offences and Criminal Damage and Arson offences. The overall cautioning rate^{[footnote 5]} was largely unchanged on the previous year, around 8% which is a series low.

3. Prosecutions & Convictions

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There were 1.37 million prosecutions and 1.21 million convictions in the latest year, both up by 5%

There was a 11% increase in prosecutions for indictable offences, and these were 18% higher than in the year ending September 2019.

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In the year ending September 2025, there were 1.37 million defendants proceeded against at magistrates’ courts, an increase of 5% compared to the previous year. The volume of prosecutions for the more serious indictable offences increased by 11% , while the volume of summary offences increased by 4%. The increase in summary offences was driven by a 7% increase in summary motoring offences to 791,000 (a series high).

Prosecutions increased across all indictable offence groups, including 18% increases for sexual offences (up by 2,300) and public order offences (up by 3,300) , and 15% increases for theft offences (up by 9,100) and fraud offences (up by 700).

In the year ending September 2025, 1.21 million offenders were convicted, 5% more than in the previous year. Convictions for indictable offences increased by 9% on the previous year (from 211,200 to 230,200). This is due in part to an increase of over 8,000 defendants convicted for theft offences, up 14%.

Trends in convictions for indictable offences lag prosecutions due to the time taken between completing proceedings in the magistrates’ court (counted as prosecutions) and cases completing at the Crown Court^{[footnote 6]}.

4. Remands

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The number of defendants remanded in custody at the magistrates’ court increased

In the year ending September 2025, there was an 8% increase in the volume of defendants remanded in custody at magistrates’ court.

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In year ending September 2025, 1.37 million defendants were directed to appear at magistrates’ courts by the police or other prosecuting authorities. In most magistrates’ court cases the pre-court remand decision is either not applicable or unknown (81%), this is largely reflective of the high volume of Single Justice Procedure cases which are dealt with remotely and where no remand decision is required. The proportion of defendants arrested and bailed or held in custody remained unchanged when compared to year ending September 2024.

At magistrates’ courts, the proportion remanded in custody showed little change on the previous year at 5%. However, the total volume of those remanded in custody increased 8% from last year and is the highest volume seen in the previous decade (66,000). The volume of those remanded in custody for more serious indictable and triable either way offences are at a series high, at 13,000 and 47,000 respectively.

Crown Court remands data to June 2025

Note: as outlined previously, Crown Court remands data have not been updated to the latest time period due to development of this series. Figures presented here relate to the previous quarter. At the Crown Court, in the year to June 2025 the volume of defendants remanded in custody increased by 6% to around 56,200 compared to the previous year (52,800) and is the highest across the last decade. The proportion of defendants remanded in custody increased from 52% in year ending June 2024 to 53% in year ending June 2025, while bail has continued to decrease to 46%. Defendants dealt with for indictable offences are more often remanded in custody for reasons such as the severity of offence, risk of further offending and likelihood of failing to appear at court. Of those remanded in custody at the Crown Court, 79% were sentenced to immediate custody or suspended custodial sentence – compared to 53% of those bailed.

5. Sentencing

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The average custodial sentence length (ACSL) for all offence types reduced to 19.9 months and to 22.0 for indictable offences down from 20.4 and 22.6 respectively in the previous year

The overall decrease in ACSL was partly due to an increase in theft offences, which attract shorter sentences and partly by falls seen across many other offence groups.

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There were 1.21 million offenders sentenced in the year ending September 2025, a 5% increase on the previous year. Most offenders (78%) continued to be sentenced to a fine, with summary motoring offences accounting for 74% of all fines issued.

There were 86,400 offenders sentenced to immediate custody – this represents an increase of 11% on the previous year and is the highest level seen since 2017 (90,800). The number of offenders receiving a custodial sentence of less than 12 months increased by 12% - continuing to account for 58% of all custodial sentences. Whereas those receiving a sentence of 12 months or more increased by 9%, accounting for 42% of all custodial sentences.

The custody rate^{[footnote 7]} for indictable offences was unchanged on the previous year (33.1% to 33.5%) but is up more than five percentage points from a decade ago (28%). The highest custody rates in the latest year were seen for robbery and sexual offences, at 58% and 55% respectively.

The overall ACSL^{[footnote 8]} was 19.9 months in the latest year, down 0.5 months on the previous year which is partly due to the increase in the proportion of theft offences which attract shorter sentence lengths. Similarly, the ACSL for Indictable offences reduced by 6 months to 22 months when compared to year ending September 2024. This included ACSL reductions in half of indictable offence groups, most notably drug offences (down by 2 months). The overall decrease in ACSL was partly due to an increase in theft offences, which attract shorter sentences and partly by falls seen across many other offence groups .

Further information

Accompanying files

As well as this bulletin, the following products are published as part of this release:

• A technical guide providing further information on how the data is collected and processed, as well as information on the revisions policy and legislation relevant to sentencing trends and background on CJS.

• A user guide listing all products alongside this release; this allows easy navigation of all files accompanying this release.

• A set of overview tables covering each section of this bulletin.

• A set of interactive tools data and CSV files underpinning all data tools

• A machine-readable offence group classification document outlining offence groupings.

Accredited official statistics status

National Statistics are accredited official statistics that meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value. These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in May 2020[^10]. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled as accredited official statistics. It is the Ministry of Justice’s responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards expected for accredited official statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are still meeting the appropriate standards, we will discuss any concerns with the Authority promptly. Accredited official statistics status can be removed at any point when the highest standards are not maintained and reinstated when standards are restored.

Future publications

Our statisticians regularly review the content of publications. Development of new and improved statistical outputs is dependent on reallocating existing resources. As part of our continual review and prioritisation, we welcome user feedback on existing outputs including content, breadth, frequency, and methodology and in particular on the specific issues identified in the introduction. Please send any comments you have on this publication.

Contact

Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office:

Tel: 020 3334 3536

URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/media-enquiries

Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to Criminal Courts & Sentencing Data and Statistics team in the Data and Analysis unit of the Ministry of Justice:

Email: CJS_Statistics@justice.gov.uk

Next update: April 2026

URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-justice-statistics

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Produced by the Ministry of Justice

Alternative formats are available on request from CJS_Statistics@justice.gov.uk

1. An individual (includes companies) can be counted more than once in a year if dealt with by the CJS on multiple separate occasions. ↩

2. The number of individuals formally dealt with by the CJS is the sum of all defendants prosecuted at magistrates’ court plus all individuals issued an out of court disposal (including cautions, Penalty Notice for Disorder, cannabis/khat warning and community resolutions). ↩

3. Some police forces have moved to reduce the types of out of court disposals used for adult offenders. In these areas, the only out of court disposals used are community resolutions and conditional cautions. Cannabis/Khat warnings will not be used. ↩

4. Caution figures provided have been drawn from an extract of the Police National Computer (PNC) data held by the MoJ. These are presented on a principal offence basis, reporting information relating to the most serious offence that an offender was cautioned for on a given occasion. ↩

5. The cautioning rate represents the percentage of offenders (those either cautioned or convicted, excluding motoring offences) who received a caution. ↩

6. It is not advised to use this data to calculate conviction rate (the number of convictions as a proportion of total prosecutions). This is due to the Court Proceedings Database counting two separate records at two separate stages (one at magistrates’ court, one at Crown Court). An individual may be convicted in a different year from when they were initially prosecuted, or the principal offence may differ between these stages. As a result, this rate is not an accurate measure of the proportion of prosecutions that result in a conviction. ↩

7. Custody rate reflects the percentage of offenders that received an immediate custodial sentence. It is calculated by dividing the number of offenders issued an immediate custodial sentence, by the total number of offenders sentenced. ↩

8. Average Custodial Sentence Length is calculated by dividing the total combined custodial sentence length imposed (in months), by the number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody. This calculation excludes suspended sentences, life sentences, other indeterminate sentences, custodial sentences recorded as 60 years or more (which are assumed to be administrative errors) and custodial sentences where the sentence length is unknown. ↩