Average length of prison sentences for offences in England and Wales 2023/24

In 2023/24 the average custodial sentence length for sexual offences in England and Wales was 69.5 months, or just over five years, the most of any broad offence type in that year. Other crimes that carried high prison sentences were robbery offences at 45.2 months, and drug offences at 41.4 months. The average length of a prison sentence for all offences in 2024 was 22.5 months, while the offences that carried the shortest sentence lengths were motoring offences. 

Court backlog a major concern

The number of crown court cases awaiting trial in England and Wales reached a high of over 62,700 cases in 2022, almost double the number of outstanding cases in 2019. Although the number of new crown court cases has actually been declining, the courts have struggled to keep pace by closing existing cases, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a consequence of these pressures, the amount of time between a criminal offence taking place and the conclusion of the case has also risen. In 2014, it took an average of 412 days for an offence to reach a conclusion in the courts, with this rising to 697 days by 2021.

The UK prison system

The prison population of the United Kingdom was estimated to number approximately 92,800 people, as of 2023, the vast majority of which were in England and Wales. In 2021/22, the average cost of a prison place in England and Wales was estimated at 46,696 British pounds, compared with 48,162 pounds in the previous financial year. Of the various prisons across UK jurisdictions the largest one in terms of capacity was HMS Oakwood in the West Midlands, which had a prison population of 2,087 in 2023. Despite the construction of relatively new prisons such as Oakwood, prison overcrowding has increased recently. In September 2023, for example, there were just 768 spare prison places in England and Wales compared with almost 2,600 in April 2022.