Highlights of the report include: (1) the total number of offenders sentenced in 2005 was 1,482,500, a reduction of 4 percent over 2004; (2) the total number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody increased by 27 percent from 79,500 in 1995 to 101,200 in 2005; (3) the average custodial sentence lengths for indictable offences at the Crown Court increased by 25 percent from 20.8 months in 1995 to 25.9 months in 2005; (4) the total number of community sentences saw a steady increase from 1995 to 2005 with the number increasing by 57 percent from 129,000 to 204,200 during this period; (5) in 2005, community sentences were most often imposed for common assault, theft from shops, driving while disqualified, driving with alcohol in the blood above prescribed limit and criminal damage at magistrates’ courts; (6) the number of offenders fined for all offenses dropped from 996,700 in 1995 to 930,100 in 2001 and peaked in 2004 at 1,082,700; (7) the number sentenced for all offenses at all courts decreased across most criminal justice areas; and (8) the majority of those coming to court had previous convictions or cautions, and in the 2005 sample, only 12 percent of offenders had no previous record of a conviction or caution remaining steady over recent years. Figures, tables and appendixes 1-6