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Produced by the Sentencing Academy

Criminal Damage

Snapshot 5

Bringing together relevant information, research findings and statistics relating to sentencing.

by Annalena Wolcke

Published: 24 Jul 2025
Last updated: Jul 2025

Overview

  • Value not exceeding £5,000:
    • Sentencing Council guideline range: discharge to a 3-months prison sentence1
    • Maximum sentence: Level 4 fine and/ or 3-months’ imprisonment
  • Value exceeding £5,000:
    • Sentencing Council guideline range: discharge to a 4-year prison sentence
    • Maximum sentence: 10-years’ imprisonment
  • Aggravating factor: racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage
  • Convictions more than halved over the last 10 years, from over 23,500 convictions in 2015 to less than 10,000 convictions in 2024
  • This snapshot summarises key trends over the past 5 years

Sentences Imposed

Figure 1: Sentences for Criminal Damage, 2020-2024

  • Over 30% of convictions resulted in a fine.2
  • A further 25% resulted in a compensation order.3

Figure 2: Sentences Imposed for Criminal Damage, 2020-2024

  • Trends in the use of principal sanctions for criminal damage have been stable over the last 5 years.

Immediate Prison Sentence Lengths

Figure 3: Prison Sentence Lengths, Criminal Damage, 2020–2024

  • The most frequent sentence range is between up to 1 to 2 months, accounting for 80% of all immediate custodial sentences.
  • 20% of prison sentences are over 2 months.

Sentencing Outcomes by Sex

Figure 4: Sentencing Outcomes by Sex, Criminal Damage, 2020-2024

  • Female (n=5,722); Male (n=42,132)
  • Between 2020-2024, the rate of fines for criminal damage was higher for men (32%) than for women (24%).
  • The rate of compensation orders was higher for women (35%) than for men (24%).

These rates do not account for various factors that influence sentencing decisions, such as the offender’s criminal history and the seriousness of the specific offence. Additional research would be needed to determine whether gender affected the sentence imposed.

This Snapshot 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. Criminal damage offences include: criminal or malicious damage offence; criminal damage endangering life; other criminal damage ↩︎
  2. Data source for all figures: Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly December 2024, published 15th of May 2025. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2024 ↩︎
  3. ‘Other sanctions’ include: absolute discharges, and the category ‘otherwise dealt with’ ↩︎