Area’s criminals get some of the country’s toughest jail terms
CRIMINALS in Greater Manchester got some of the toughest prison sentences in the country last year.
On average, crooks in our region were locked up to somewhere between six months and a year behind bars.
It puts Greater Manchester joint sixth among the 43 police forces in England and Wales.
The Ministry of Justice classifies prison sentences on a scale of nineteen bands, with one being the lightest term of up to one month and 19 being a life sentence for the most serious crimes.
Our analysis shows that the average prison sentence given to criminals in Greater Manchester was 6.6 on this scale in 2017.
Robbery crimes - defined as theft with the threat of force - received the strictest sentences in the region, an average of 12.8 on the scale or about four years in jail.
There were 33 life sentences given out in Greater Manchester in 2017 - 27 for murder, Among those who got them were seven young men jailed for the killing of 18-year-old Abdul Hafidah in Moss Side, and two rapists, Dominic Hill, who carried out a string of terrifying attacks on women, stalking them on dark mornings wearing a high-vis jacket, and Neil Anthony Thompson, who screamed at his victim from the dock and punched a prison officer while being sentenced.
Figures show there were 362 life sentences handed out across the country in 2017.
Overall in England and Wales, the average severity of a prison sentence was 6.1, equivalent to between six and nine months behind bars.
But the average length of a prison sentence in 2017 in England and Wales was 16.9 months - this figure is longer because of the way the sentencing bands work, with longer sentences skewing the overall average upwards.
Prison sentences have generally been getting tougher in England and Wales, as in 2007 the average length of a prison sentence was 12.4 months.