As prisons have been topical I've dug out some relevant statistics (just what I have to hand).
We hear that “crime is a young man’s game”. If we call young anything up to 30 years-old, fifty three percent of prison sentences imposed in 2003 were on young people.
BUT of all inmates 76 percent had FIRST been imprisoned as a young person. The most common age for first imprisonment is 17.
Of the 8,536 sentences 10 percent went to females. Up from 7 percent in 1999.
Exactly half of the sentences were imposed on Maori.
Going back to 1960;
3,057 sentences were imposed. The percentage of the population under 30 was fifty three; now it is only 43 percent. Despite today's population being considerably older the rate of sentencing per 10,000 of mean population, has increased by around fifty percent.
Sowell says
19 minutes ago
4 comments:
The comment that 17 was the most common age for a first sentence tells all.
The minimum age for imprisonment is 17 years.
These 'people' have been on the waiting list for years. After years of getting off scott-free they suddenly hit the magic age. and find themselves banged up!
The damage they do in this waiting period is enormous.
We need a lock up for kids- their genetic material donors won't contol them...
Oswald, The table I have shows, of all inmates, 415 were first imprisoned at 16. When did it change? Or does this refer to starting out in a borstal, in which case why not 15 year-olds?
Of course- if the data is old enough, it would include borstal and the other short-lived program that I can't remember the name of!
All before my time in the prison service.
My comment on youth in a 'holding pattern' still runs true and was not meant to be challenging anything in your original post- just trying to add to it!
Cheers!
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