Ministry of Justice · Criminal justice statistics quarterly: overview tables · 10 values
Average custodial sentence length (indictable offences) by offence group
The average (mean) length in months of immediate custodial sentences for indictable offences in England and Wales in the twelve months ending March, split by offence group.
latest 12 months to Year ending March 2026; 1 quarters summed · total 273 months · published 30 July 2026
| Offence group | Latest 12 months | Share | Previous 12 months | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sexual offences | 74 | 27% | 73 | ▲ 1.7% |
| Robbery | 44 | 16% | 45 | ▼ 3.3% |
| Drug offences | 39 | 14.4% | 40 | ▼ 2% |
| Criminal damage and arson | 27 | 9.8% | 27 | ▲ 1.1% |
| Violence against the person | 24 | 8.6% | 21 | ▲ 10.8% |
| Fraud offences | 22 | 8.1% | 21 | ▲ 4.2% |
| Miscellaneous crimes against society | 15 | 5.3% | 14 | ▲ 5% |
| Possession of weapons | 13 | 4.7% | 13 | ▼ 2.3% |
| Public order offences | 9 | 3.2% | 10 | ▼ 11.2% |
| Theft offences | 8 | 2.9% | 8 | ▼ 2.5% |
Source
- Dataset
- Criminal justice statistics quarterly: overview tables · sheet Q5_2c
- Rows
- Offence type=Indictable; Offence group=Indictable offences total; values are the sum of the published rows for each offence group and period.
- Caveat
- Summary offences, indeterminate sentences, or time served; an average of averages is not meaningful, so the groups are not summed.
- Parent metric
- Average custodial sentence length (indictable offences)
- API
- /api/metrics/average_custodial_sentence_length_by_offence_group/vintages