Prosecutions for possession of a paedophile manual
Request
Can you tell me how many prosecutions there have been for the offence of 'possession of a paedophile manual' (contrary to s. 69 of the Serious Crime Act 2015) between 1st January 2016 and 31st December 2021.
Response
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does collate limited data within the scope of your request.
The table below shows the number of prosecutions for the offence of possession of a paedophile manual created by Section 69 of the Serious Crime Act 2015. This data concerns the number of offences charged by way of Section 69 in which a prosecution commenced at magistrates’ courts and shows these figures from 1st January 2016 to the end of December 2021. The caveats appended to the data should be noted accordingly.
You may also find it helpful to refer your request to the Ministry of Justice, as they are the official statistics holders of sentences imposed by the courts. Their FOI email address is: data.access@justice.gov.uk.
| Offences charged and reaching a first hearing at magistrates' courts | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Serious Crime Act 2015 s.69(1) and (3) | 10 | 15 | 30 | 19 | 13 | 16 |
Caveats
Offences recorded in the Management Information System Offences Universe are those which reached a hearing. There is no indication of final outcome or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at finalisation.
- Data relates to the number of offences recorded in magistrates' courts in which a prosecution commenced, as recorded on the Case Management System.
- Offences data are not held by defendant or outcome.
- Offences recorded in the Offences Universe of the MIS are those which were charged at any time and reached at least one hearing. This offence will remain recorded whether or not that offence was proceeded with and there is no indication of final outcome or if the offence charged was the substantive offence at finalisation.
CPS data are available through its Case Management System and associated Management Information System. The CPS collects data to assist in the effective management of its prosecution functions. The CPS does not collect data that constitutes official statistics as defined in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.
These data have been drawn from the CPS’s administrative IT system, which (as with any large scale recording system) is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. The figures are provisional and subject to change as more information is recorded by the CPS. We are committed to improving the quality of our data and from mid-June 2015 introduced a new data assurance regime which may explain some unexpected variance in some future data sets.
The official statistics relating to crime and policing are maintained by the Home Office and the official statistics relating to sentencing, criminal court proceedings, offenders brought to justice, the courts and the judiciary are maintained by the Ministry of Justice.