The real costs for dealing with crime and offenders has increased considerably over the last 5 years and can be explained by the growing demands on the criminal justice system. For 1990- 1991, l.6 million magistrates' court cases were dealt with by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) at an average cost per defendant of 67 pounds. In the Crown Court, where more serious cases are heard, 146,000 cases were dealt with at an average cost to the CPS of 494 pounds. Total expenditure on criminal legal aid was 372 million pounds in 1990!1991. Expenditure on the Probation Service totaled 320 million pounds in 1990!1991; the figure was 1,342 million pounds for the Prison Service. In 1989!90, there were 6,800 remands for psychiatric assessment which indicate a minimum annual cost of 13.6 million pounds to the Prison Service. Income from fines imposed in magistrates' courts and the Crown Court reached 125 million pounds in 1990. 21 figures and 21 tables