Official Statistics

New criminal offences statistics in England and Wales

Annual update of statistics on counting new criminal offences created by government departments in England and Wales.

Documents

New Criminal Offences 2012 – 1st June 2009 to 31st May 2012

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All tables 1 June 2009 - 31 May 2012

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Metadata file 1 June 2009 - 31 May 2012

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Details

Earlier editions: New criminal offences


Annual update of statistics on counting new criminal offences created by government departments in England and Wales.

The report is released by the Ministry of Justice and produced in accordance with the UK Statistics Authority code of conduct.

New Criminal Offences, England and Wales - 1st June 2009 to 31st May 2012

Introduction

The Ministry of Justice committed in its 2011-2015 business plan to establish a gateway to scrutinise all legislation containing criminal offences.  It also committed to publish annual figures as part of the planned information strategy. 

This publication provides users with information concerning the activity of government departments in creating new criminal offences in England and Wales during the period 1st June 2010 to 31st May 2012, with comparison made to figures from the previous 12 months where available.

Main findings

Overview

In the 12 months ending May 2012 new criminal offences were contained in 52 pieces of legislation; this compares to 33 legislative provisions passed in the 12 months to May 2011. 

From the 52 pieces of legislation 292 new criminal offences were created, an increase of 67.8 per cent on the previous total of 174 for the 12 months ending May 2011.

According to estimates based on data extracted from the Police National Legal Database, 188 offences were repealed in England and Wales in the 12 months ending May 2012.  This compares to 155 offences repealed in the preceding 12 months to May 2011.

Table 1.1 Legislation coming in to force and offences created by legislative vehicle and source, 12 months ending May 2010 to 12 months ending May 2012

The bulletin is produced and handled by the ministry’s analytical professionals and production staff. Pre-release access of up to 24 hours is granted to the following persons in the Ministry of Justice:

Secretary of State for Justice; Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Criminal Justice; Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice Strategy; Permanent Secretary; Special Advisers; Director General, Corporate Performance Group; Director General, Criminal Justice Group; Director for Research & Analysis; Director for Criminal Law, Sentencing and Youth Policy; Director for Criminal Law and Legal Policy; Head of News; Senior Press Officer.

Updates to this page

Published 17 December 2012

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