The criteria for custody that were established for youthful offenders in 1982 were refined in the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and have been extended to include adult offenders as a result of the 1991 Criminal Justice Act, which will be implemented in October 1992. The criteria were intended to restrict the use of custody. Research by Burley showed that magistrates initially often ignored the criteria. However, appeals of the custodial sentences increased rapidly from 2,348 in 1983 to 3,985 in 1985 and then declined to 994 in 1989. A substantial proportion of the appeals were successful, while very few resulted in an increased sentence. More recent data indicate that the 1988 Criminal Justice Act had little effect on the number of appeals against custodial sentences, although it appears to have affected the number of custodial sentences for youths ages 17-20. The courts appeared to have applied the 1988 criteria more rigorously from the start. It remains to be seen whether the 1991 law will result in the application of the restrictions on custodial sentences to all offenders over age 21. Footnotes