Crime Statistics
Home Department
Lynne Featherstone (Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Hornsey and Wood Green, Liberal Democrat)
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department
(1) how many convictions for (a) murder, (b) rape, (c) sexual assault, (d) manslaughter and (e) robbery have been (i) overturned, (ii) reduced and (iii) increased after appeal in each of the last five years;
(2) how many convictions for (a) murder, (b) rape, (c) sexual assault, (d) manslaughter and (e) robbery have been overturned in the last three years; and in how many cases of each type the sentence was reduced.
Harriet Harman (Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs; Camberwell and Peckham, Labour)
I have been asked to reply.
The following table sets out, for the past five years, the number of conviction appeals allowed, sentence appeals allowed and references by the Attorney General where the Court of Appeal Criminal Division decided to increase the sentence following review.
All figures relate to cases where the named offence (including inchoate offences) was the main offence under consideration by the Court. However, some results may reflect circumstances where the court also reviewed other offences committed by the same applicant.
| 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | |
| Murder | ||||||
| Conviction appeal allowed(1) | 15 | 17 | 20 | 31 | 28 | 20 |
| Sentence appeal allowed(2) | — | — | — | — | 16 | 49 |
| Sentence increased following review | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Manslaughter | ||||||
| Conviction appeal allowed(1) | 4 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 |
| Sentence appeal allowed(2) | 20 | 22 | 28 | 33 | 17 | 24 |
| Sentence increased following review | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Rape | ||||||
| Conviction appeal allowed(2) | 28 | 21 | 26 | 23 | 35 | 18 |
| Sentence appeal allowed(2) | 40 | 39 | 28 | 37 | 42 | 53 |
| Sentence increased following review | 4 | 2 | 7 | 10 | 2 | 4 |
| Robbery | ||||||
| Conviction appeal allowed(1) | 23 | 16 | 7 | 19 | 26 | 14 |
| Sentence appeal allowed(1) | 113 | 109 | 125 | 172 | 159 | 130 |
| Sentence increased following review | 11 | 11 | 16 | 14 | 9 | 11 |
| Sexual assault( 3) | ||||||
| Conviction appeal allowed(1) | 22 | 19 | 24 | 25 | 28 | 26 |
| Sentence appeal allowed(2) | 77 | 71 | 78 | 117 | 80 | 77 |
| Sentence increased following review | 5 | 7 | 6 | 14 | 10 | 4 |
| (1 )Includes cases where a retrial was ordered or where any aspect of the appeal was allowed. (2 )Includes all cases where there was any reduction to sentence, including reduction in tariff or to a non-custodial element. (3 )Includes indecent assault but not convictions for similar offences assault by penetration, indecency with a child. | ||||||