The police recorded 68,549 offenses, a decrease of 0.4 percent from 1995 and an increase of 11 percent from 1987. Theft accounted for 48 percent of all recorded crime. Recorded crime increased from the previous year in five categories: criminal damage offenses, offenses against the State, robbery, violence against the person, and sex offenses. The police cleared up 23,103 offenses. Prosecutions at magistrates' courts decreased by 5 percent from 1995; the number of crown court prosecutions decreased by 4 percent to 1,205. Eighty-four percent of the defendants at the magistrates' court and 82 percent of the defendants at the crown court pleaded guilty. Fifty-three percent of those found guilty in crown court received a sentence of immediate custody, 30 percent received a suspended custodial sentence, and 10 percent received community supervision. Fines were the most common sentence in the magistrates' courts. The number of juveniles sentenced in both kinds of courts declined in 1996 for the first time since 1992. The average daily prison population was 1,639, a 7-percent decrease from 1995. Figures, tables, and appended background information