ENGLAND'S JAIL TERMS AMONG LONGEST

The courts in England and Wales are among the toughest in western Europe,
with only Portugal giving offenders longer prison sentences, according to
home office figures comparing international crime rates, which were
published yesterday.

The official statistics also show that the prison population in England and
Wales on a per capita basis is once again close to the top of the western
European league table with 126 inmates per 100,000 population. More people
are jailed in England and Wales, as a proportion of population, than happens
in Sudan, Saudi Arabia or China, and across western Europe the rate of
imprisonment is exceeded only by Portugal.

But the figures also show that England and Wales has one of the lowest
murder rates in western Europe, and that London is well down the homicide
league table for capital cities across the continent.

The home office bulletin suggests that the ordinary citizen in England and
Wales is more likely to be robbed, burgled or have their car stolen than in
the US or many European countries. But the comparative data is based on 1995
figures, and since then there have been significant falls in the number of
these offences in England and Wales. For example, car thefts have fallen
from 513,927 in 1995 to 387,000 in 1999.

The home office said that the international comparisons based on 1998
figures collected from 29 countries showed that while crime rose by 5%
across the industrialised world it fell by 1% in England and Wales.

In Scotland it rose by 3%. In Northern Ireland recorded crime rose by 28% to
76,664 offences, which in the international comparisons was second only to
the 37% increase in crime recorded in South Africa that year.

After a period in the early 1990s when the prison population fell to only
42,000, Britain has regained its place near the top of the western European
league table for imprisonment.

The prison population in England and Wales has risen to more than 68,000 -
back near the top of the league table. In world terms, it is exceeded by the
US (668 inmates per 100,000 population), Russia (690 per 100,000) and the
Czech republic (215 per 100,000).

A separate study by the Council of Europe covering nine European countries
confirms the more punitive approach of courts in England and Wales.

It concludes that English offenders sentenced for assault, robbery and theft
are given longer prison sentences than those that similarly convicted
criminals receive in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany and Sweden.

However, the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders
yesterday denied there was a direct link between the rise in prison numbers
in England and Wales and the fall in recorded crime.

"Between 1994 and 1998 the prison population increased in most European
countries, as well as in North America, Japan, New Zealand and Australia and
South Africa. Yet the crime rate fluctuated wildly in these countries. Some,
such as Britain, Ireland and the United States saw a fall in recorded crime.
But in most countries the crime rate and the prison population both went
up," said Rob Allen, Nacro's director of research.