According to new data from the Ministry of Justice, average sentence lengths for violent and sexual offences fell steeply last year in England and Wales.
The average custodial sentence length for violent crimes fell by 22 per cent to 18.5 months and the figure for sexual offences fell by 12 per cent to 52 months, which is the lowest figure since 2011.
Average sentence lengths fell in all categories, except for public order offences and “miscellaneous crimes against society”, which both saw small increases.
Experts believe that the Covid pandemic was the catalyst in the falls as the criminal justice system was forced to slow down the number of people dealt with at the time.
The number of criminal defendants brought before the courts in England and Wales fell by nearly a third in the year to March 2021 from an already record low in 2019.
Whilst the number of prosecutable offences heard was down 14.2 per cent and the number of summary offences down 36.5 per cent. The number of defendants convicted decreased by a third (33.8 per cent).
Overall, the criminal justice system dealt formally with 1.07 million people in the year to March, including out-of-court resolutions, a 28 per cent fall from 1.59 million the previous year.
Lawyers are now warning that the backlog could take years to clear, with the number of outstanding crown court cases in the first quarter of 2021 was up 45 per cent on the same period last year, with the number of defendants remanded in custody at a five-year high.
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