Prison sentences 
a postcode lottery, 
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A total of 3.8 per cent of offenders convicted of a crime in magistrates’ courts in North Yorkshire in 2011 were given an immediate custodial sentence.

Ten years earlier the county’s magistrates handed out jail terms to 645 of the 12,962 people sentenced, a rate of five per cent.

Figures obtained by the Howard League for Penal Reform show that South Yorkshire’s magistrates sentenced 3.7 per cent to jail in 2011, while in West Yorkshire and the Humberside criminal justice area the rate was 3.6 per cent.

The charity says the national average is 3.8 per cent, though in Warwickshire it is as low as 1.5 per cent of convicted offenders sent to prison.

The highest rate was Northamptonshire, where magistrates gave out custodial sentences in 6.5 per cent of cases.

Overall, magistrates’ courts in England and Wales reduced their use of custody by a quarter between 2001 and 2011.

The maximum sentence that a magistrates’ court can impose is a six-month prison term, or up to 12 months in total for more than one offence.

Frances Crook, the charity’s chief, said: “It is pleasing to see that magistrates’ courts are sending fewer people to prison overall than they have in the past.

“However, one cannot ignore the striking disparity in sentencing trends between different criminal justice areas.

“A short-term prison sentence is a catastrophe for everyone. It does not help change the life of the person sentenced.

“Indeed, it is likely to compound issues such as drug addiction and make them more likely to reoffend.

“It costs the taxpayer a fortune and it does nothing to help victims, who get no recompense or easing of trauma.

“A court which imposes short prison sentences increases the likelihood of local people becoming victims of crime, because the failure rate is so high.”

Magistrates’ courts in England and Wales handed down almost 1.2 million sentences to men, women and children during 2011, of which more than 46,000 were custodial.

Courts in Derbyshire, Gwent and Northamptonshire imposed immediate prison terms more frequently in 2011 than they did in 2001.