Revealed: Yorkshire’s toughest and most lenient courts

YORKSHIRE’s toughest and most lenient courts have been revealed after the Government launched a new website allowing the public to see where criminals are most likely to face jail.

Offenders are more likely to end up behind bars after appearing at Sheffield Crown Court than anywhere else in the region, while those appearing in York are most likely to avoid an immediate prison sentence.

Nearly a quarter of criminals convicted at Bradford Crown Court end up with a community sentence, compared to just one in seven in Sheffield.

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Criminals are also 50 per cent more likely to return to a life of crime in Hull than offenders in leafy parts of North Yorkshire, according to the transparency drive which has delighted some but alarmed others in the criminal justice system.

Magistrates have warned the statistics “don’t tell the full story” and Dewsbury MP Simon Reevell, a barrister, described the venture as a “blunt instrument” and said the Government would have been better to use the money to keep open a number of courts which have just been closed.

Justice Minister Lord McNally said the Making Sense of Criminal Justice website, which follows the launch of crime maps by the Home Office which allow residents to see what offences have been committed in their neighbourhood, would make the system more accountable.

“It will really help people to see reoffending levels in their area and give them the knowledge and, therefore, the power to hold local services to account,” he said.

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The website allows users to see reoffending rates for their local areas as well as sentencing statistics for individual courts, with a “myth busting” section aiming to challenge some common criticism about penalties handed out by magistrates and judges.

It reveals 32 per cent of criminals in Hull go on to reoffend, as do 31 per cent in Scarborough and 29 per cent in Leeds and North East Lincolnshire. The lowest rates are 20 per cent in Richmondshire and 21 per cent in Craven.

Peter Wright, director of probation for Hull and the East Riding, said: “We’re looking at why the reoffending rate is so high. What these figures give us is a benchmark to work against.”

Court statistics reveal how criminals are dealt with in different areas, giving the number and percentage of offenders facing immediate jail or being dealt with by a fine. The website seeks to crush the idea that criminals get fines for serious offences or that people handed suspended sentences are able to “walk free”.

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Data reveals Skipton magistrates are most likely to issue fines – used in 84.1 per cent of cases – while in Keighley just 52.8 per cent of cases end with a financial penalty.

Shipley MP Philip Davies welcomed it, saying: “If people can see that courts have soft sentencing and that’s leading to higher crime rates in their area they can hold the courts to account for it.”

But Mr Reevell urged caution, and said the Government would be better to publish sentencing data in local newspapers and save money on the website.

“It’s such a blunt instrument. In Sheffield there might be eight criminal courts sitting on any one day, in York there are two. There are different judges that sit in York and Sheffield. There are different offences that take place more often in Sheffield than in the catchment area of York, which is much more rural,” he said.

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“To reduce that down to a website just doesn’t tell you anything.”

John Thornhill, chairman of the Magistrates’ Association, backed the transparency move, but added: “We’re concerned on the statistics alone the public may get the wrong picture.”

“We know that unless we hear all the evidence and have both sides of the story, sometimes we can have very strange decisions.”