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Digest of Information on the Northern Ireland Criminal Justice System

NCJ Number
165244
Date Published
1996
Length
126 pages
Annotation
This volume presents statistical information on crime trends, offenders, victims, prosecution, court cases, sentencing, imprisonment, and criminal justice personnel and costs in Northern Ireland in 1994, together with comparisons with previous years.
Abstract
The police recorded 67,886 crimes and cleared 24,342 crimes. Eighty-six percent of the crimes involved property; 11 percent were violent or sexual offenses. Court cases involved 38,884 defendants; 32,416 persons were convicted. A total of 22,926 prosecutions were for traffic offenses. Fines accounted for 71 percent of the dispositions. In the Crown Courts, about 53 percent of the offenders received sentences of immediate custody. The average length of the immediate custodial sentence was 5 months in magistrates' courts and 3 years 9 months, except for life sentences, in crown courts. The average daily prison population was 1,899. Ninety-eight percent of the inmates are male; 55 percent have committed violent offenses and 17 percent are serving life sentences. The criminal justice system employs almost 22,000 persons, including 13,183 police officers. Seventy-four percent of those who responded to a survey of community attitudes expressed confidence in the criminal justice system. Figures, tables, and list of organizations from which to obtain more information