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Produced by the Sentencing Academy

Sentencing Children

Key Facts and Statistics

Raphael Freund & Annalena Wolcke

Published: 14 Nov 2025

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Fact 1

Individuals who are between 10-17 years old at the time of sentencing are considered children.

IN 2024,

12,959

CHILDREN WERE SENTENCED IN COURTS IN ENGLAND & WALES1

Fact 2

In 2024, sentences for children accounted for

1%

of all sentences where the
individuals’ age was recorded.

Fact 3

Most children who are sentenced receive a Referral Order.*

The second-most common outcome is a Youth Rehabilitation Order.

*Note: Referral Orders and Youth Rehabilitation Orders are a special type of Community Order that can only be imposed on children.2

Fact 4

Distribution of Custodial Sentence Lengths

Fact 5

Top 5 offences for children at sentencing

Individuals sentenced in 20243
1. Robbery1,129
2. Knife possession (having an article with a blade or point in public)1,119
3. Vehicle insurance offences – summary967
4. Common assault and battery902
5. Theft from a shop855

Fact 6

Reoffending Rates by Age Group4

Note: The MoJ defines reoffending as any offence committed in a one-year follow-up period that leads to a court conviction, caution, reprimand, or warning.

Fact 7

Among those sentenced to custody, children are about twice as likely to re-offend.

Age GroupProportion
Children74%
Adults37.5%

Fact 8

The average number of reoffences per individual is highest for young children.

Age GroupAverage Reoffences
10 to 145.09
15 to 174.13
All convicted children4.34
All convicted individuals4.02

Fact 9

Most children who are
sentenced are between
15 and 17 years old.

Age RangeProportion
10 to 110.1%
12 to 1412.8%
15 to 1787.1%

Fact 10

of females

and

of males

who were sentenced in 2024 were children.

Download this infographic as PDF

This infographic is one of a series on sentencing trends in England & Wales. Others can be found here. For further information, contact Annalena Wolcke at a.wolcke@sentencingacademy.org.uk

  1. Data source for fact 1: Age of Criminal Responsibility, no date. https://www.gov.uk/age-of-criminalresponsibility;

    Data source for facts 1-5, 9-10: Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly December 2024, published 15th of May, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2024. ↩︎
  2. ‘Other’ sentence outcomes in Fact 3 include: absolute discharge, reparation order, compensation, and ‘otherwise dealt with’. ↩︎
  3. Data source for fact 5: Index Disposal data tool, April 2022 to March 2023, published 30th of January, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/proven-reoffending-statistics-january-to-march-2023 ↩︎
  4. Data source for facts 6-8: Proven Reoffending Statistics: Proven reoffending tables (annual average), April 2022 to March 2023, published 30th of January, 2025.
    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/proven-reoffending-statistics-january-to-march-2023 ↩︎