Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average number was of offences committed by a prolific offender before their first custodial sentence.

The average number of cautions and non-custodial convictions received by a prolific offender before their first immediate custodial sentence is five.

The definition of a prolific offender can be found here : https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/681553/prolific-offenders-15-feb-2017.pdf )

The response to this PQ was published in paper which can be found at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/756282/prolific-offenders-experimental-statistics.pdf.