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<p>The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of prosecutions and
convictions for a range of child cruelty offences, from the year ending June 2011
to the year ending June 2023, in the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65a7e44aed27ca001327b161/outcomes-by-offence-june-2023.xlsx"
target="_blank">Outcomes by Offence data tool: June 2023</a>.</p><p>This can be accessed
by navigating to the ‘Prosecutions and convictions’ tab and using the HO Offence Code
filter to select the following offences:</p><ul><li>01103 – Cruelty to or neglect
of children</li><li>00407 – Causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable
person</li><li>00411 - Causing or allowing child or vulnerable adult to suffer serious
physical harm.</li></ul><p>The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 increased
the maximum penalties for:</p><ul><li>Causing or allowing a child or vulnerable adult
to die from 14 years’ imprisonment to life imprisonment;</li><li>Causing or allowing
a child or vulnerable adult to suffer serious physical harm from 10 to 14 years’ imprisonment;
and</li><li>Cruelty to a person under 16 from 10 to 14 years’ imprisonment.</li></ul><p>A
consequence of increasing the maximum penalty for causing or allowing the death of
a child or vulnerable adult to life imprisonment is that offenders sentenced to 7
years or more for that offence will spend two thirds of their sentence, rather than
half, in custody.</p><p>Partly as a result of these measures, average custodial sentence
length for child cruelty offences has increased by 79.9% since 2010.</p>
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