The official version of this document can be found via the PDF button.
The below content has been automatically generated from the original PDF and some formatting may have been lost, therefore it should not be relied upon to extract citations or propose amendments.
14
1240/5(9159)
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS BY DEPUTY S.Y. MÉZEC OF ST. HELIER
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 19th JANUARY 2016
Question
In 2015, how many people were arrested for possession of small amounts of cannabis?
How many of these led to convictions and how many of those were sentenced to a custodial sentence?
Answer
In 2015, there were 144 possession-of-cannabis offences recorded by States of Jersey Police, 92 of which were principal offences, counted in accordance with the UK Home Office Counting Rules for Recorded Crime[i]. The remaining 52 were subsidiary offences in cases where additional, more-serious crimes had been committed, and so were not counted as per Home Office rules. With regard to the 144 offences:
- 20 remain undetected and a further 4 received admin detections (this latter category indicates the Police are aware of the perpetrator and are not looking for anyone else involved. However, there may be insufficient evidence to continue with the prosecution);
- 42 offenders received written cautions;
- 15 offenders received fines ranging from £100 to £800;
- 9 offenders were bound over for periods ranging from three months to a year;
- 7 offenders received probation orders for periods ranging from six to 18 months;
- 3 offenders received Community Order Notices for periods ranging from 40 to 90 hours, and;
- the remaining offenders were dealt with as follows: deferred decision (11), remanded in custody (12, of which four were remanded for Royal Court appearances), other, non-specified sanctions (3), awaiting a Parish Hall Enquiry (14), case withdrawn (1), unknown outcome (3).
No-one prosecuted in 2015 for possession of cannabis received a custodial sentence.
It should be noted that it is difficult to determine the number of people arrested for possession of cannabis because the police custody record will often not indicate the specific drug itself - mention will only be made of the substance being passed onto the States Analyst for further investigation. In addition, individuals found in possession can be dealt with at the scene but later, depending on the Analyst's report, be asked to attend Police Headquarters voluntarily for charge or warning to Parish Hall .