Fury as half of ALL UK crime is committed by just 10 per cent of career crooks who walk free again & again
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BRITAIN’S soft-touch justice system is today laid bare — as it is revealed just ten per cent of offenders are responsible for half of all crime. Yet criminals with up to 300 previous offences are still being let off at court without being sent to jail.
![[Just ten per cent of offenders are responsible for half of all crime in Britain]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/g6w1xg-hmp-wakefield-836269530_5aa784.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Drug dealers, thieves and shoplifters are being allowed to walk free despite records which expose a life of crime. Furious campaigners want tough action on so-called “boomerang offenders”. Yet the Government is already facing controversy over releasing thousands of prisoners early as the country runs out of jail cells.
![[Joseph Phillips had more than 300 offences on his record when he appeared before magistrates in Blackburn and pleaded guilty to two thefts from cars in 2020 — but was still spared prison with a suspended sentence]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/220-offences-back-behind-bars-960242414.jpg?strip=all&w=867)
Dr Lawrence Newport, the founder of campaign group Crush Crime, said: “There is no excuse for the Government to be lenient on these offenders. “Many career criminals are responsible for hundreds of crimes. “The public must be protected.”. The academic has urged the Government to use the sentencing review being led by former Tory Justice Secretary David Gauke to ensure that convicts with long records are banged up.
![[Owen Hill had more than 70 offences to his name including burglaries and robbery — yet still only received a suspended sentence at York crown court last year for attacking a police officer, carrying drugs and breaching a suspended sentence]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/owen-hill-serial-offender-jailed-960243262.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
These so-called prolific offenders are criminals with 16 or more previous convictions. This number is slightly lower for juvenile prolific offenders depending on their age. There are 526,000 prolific offenders in England and Wales, according to Ministry of Justice statistics — about one in ten of all criminals.
They are responsible for around half of all crimes that end up in court — a staggering 10.5 million sentencings. On average they have been convicted 20 times before. But a series of recent cases reveal that many lifelong criminals are still getting off at court without a prison sentence — despite their records.
