Civometry

Ministry of Justice · offence group: Theft offences

Average custodial sentence length (indictable offences): Theft offences

4 periods to Year ending March 2026

35months

Average custodial sentence length (indictable offences) for Theft offences totalled 35 months in the 4 periods to Year ending March 2026, down 23.4% (11) on the 4 periods before.

  1. Ministry of Justice dataset
  2. Q5_2c
  3. Offence type=Indictable; Offence group=Theft offences
  4. column “2026”
  5. 7.8 per period
  6. published 30 July 2026

Year ending March 2016 to Year ending March 2026

Average custodial sentence length by offence group: Year ending March 2016 to Year ending March 2026ConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeLabourLabour0510201620182020202220242026Year ending March 2016: 9 months · published 30 July 2026Year ending March 2017: 9 months · published 30 July 2026Year ending March 2018: 10 months · published 30 July 2026Year ending March 2019: 11 months · published 30 July 2026Year ending March 2020: 11 months · published 30 July 2026Year ending March 2021: 12 months · published 30 July 2026Year ending March 2022: 12 months · published 30 July 2026Year ending March 2023: 11 months · published 30 July 2026Year ending March 2024: 9 months · published 30 July 2026Year ending March 2025: 8 months · published 30 July 2026Year ending March 2026: 8 months · published 30 July 2026
Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover or use arrow keys to read a value

What this measures

The average (mean) length in months of immediate custodial sentences for indictable offences in England and Wales in the twelve months ending March, split by offence group.

Summary offences, indeterminate sentences, or time served; an average of averages is not meaningful, so the groups are not summed.

Source

Dataset
Criminal justice statistics quarterly: overview tables
Release
Year ending March 2026, published 30 July 2026 · sha256 60c19d2d5ff2446d…
All values
Average custodial sentence length (indictable offences) by offence group