Communications Act 2003
Justice
Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many convictions there were in each region under section 127 of the Digital Communications Act 2003 in each of the last five years.
Jeremy Wright (Kenilworth and Southam, Conservative)
The number of convictions made in each region under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 in each of the last five years can be viewed in the following table.
| Defendants found guilty at all courts under the Communications Act 2003 offences, by region, England and Wales, 2007-11(1,2) | |||||||
| Total guilty | |||||||
| Statute | Offence description | Region | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
| Communications Act 2003, s 127 | Sending or causing sending of grossly offensive/indecent/obscene/menacing or false message/matter by electronic communications network | London | 37 | 63 | 83 | 122 | 132 |
| North West | 67 | 74 | 119 | 175 | 194 | ||
| North East | 29 | 28 | 46 | 75 | 84 | ||
| Yorkshire and Humberside | 25 | 45 | 63 | 99 | 86 | ||
| East Midlands | 29 | 68 | 52 | 67 | 88 | ||
| West Midlands | 65 | 80 | 80 | 101 | 112 | ||
| East of England | 58 | 83 | 122 | 136 | 156 | ||
| South East | 96 | 127 | 154 | 212 | 227 | ||
| South West | 57 | 79 | 85 | 124 | 112 | ||
| Wales | 35 | 46 | 69 | 75 | 95 | ||
| Total | 498 | 693 | 873 | 1,186 | 1,286 | ||
| (1) The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice. | |||||||