Freedom of Information requests are truly the gift that keeps on giving.

Below are some of the nuggets of information I’ve unearthed from the responses to FOIs that the Ministry of Justice  published this March.

1: Over a quarter (25.6%) of the 85,763 people given community sentences in 2016 had 11 or more previous convictions and/or cautions.

1,357 (1.6%) had 50 or more previous and 87 (0.1%) had 100 or more.

2: 102,931 people received a police caution in 2016 – a drop of 22,681 or (18%) on the year before.

3: 9,221 people with no previous convictions were sentenced to immediate custody in 2016.

4: 210,055 people were given a caution for possession of cocaine over the last 10 years.

The parallel figure for cannabis was 416,363 and for heroin 76,969.

5: Three hundred and forty five 10 or 11 year old were given cautions or convicted of a criminal offence in 2016.

6: In the 12 year period 2005-2016, 790 people were given a life sentence with a tariff of between 20-24 years.

In the same time period, 469 were given a tariff of 25-29 years, 301 were told to serve a minimum of 30-34 years, 70 got tariffs of 35-40 years and 34 of 41 years or more.

7: Between 2007 and 2016 a total of 27 people have been convicted of the offence of having sexual intercourse with an animal.

8: 59 people were convicted of controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship in 2016 (an offence introduced by the Serious Crime Act 2015).

57 of these were men.

9: The proportion of defendants sentenced to immediate custody in Magistrates’ Courts ranged from 0% (in 4 courts) to 14% in South Worcestershire and 33% in Harrogate and Skipton (where only 6 defendants were sentenced all year.)

The average was 3.8%

10: In 2016, 54 people were convicted of child sexual exploitation and 225 of sexual grooming.