About
On the Evidence shows how well the criminal justice system in England and Wales is working, using only figures the government itself publishes, and explains them in plain English.
Why this site exists
Official statistics on crime, the courts and prisons are published by several different government departments, in hundreds of spreadsheets, on different timetables and with different definitions. They are public, but they are hard to find, hard to read and almost impossible to join up.
We bring them together in one place and follow what happens after a crime is reported: whether someone is charged, how long the case takes to reach court, what happens to victims and witnesses, and what happens in prison and afterwards. Every chart comes with a short explanation of what it means, and every technical term can be tapped for a definition.
What we do
- Use only official statistics from government departments and the Office for National Statistics.
- Say exactly where every figure comes from, with a link to the original release.
- Show long-term trends, not just the latest month, so changes can be seen in context.
- Point out breaks in the data, such as changes in how something is counted, and figures that are likely to change.
- Mark clearly any figure we have calculated ourselves, such as rates per 1,000 people.
What we do not do
- We do not publish information about individual people or individual cases.
- We do not support any political party, and we do not campaign for particular policies. Where the evidence points one way, we say so, and where it is unclear, we say that too.
- We are not a government website, and we are not endorsed by any government department.
- We cannot give legal advice or help with a particular case. If you need help, see the contact page for organisations that can.
How the figures are kept up to date
An automated process checks the official sources and updates the site when new figures are published. Each chart shows the date of the figures it uses. Most police figures are for the year to March, and most court figures are for the end of each quarter.
Corrections
We check every figure against its source, but mistakes can happen. If you think something is wrong, please tell us through the contact page. We will check it, correct it promptly if it is wrong, and note the correction on the page concerned.
Using our charts and data
The underlying statistics are Crown copyright and are used under the Open Government Licence v3.0. You are welcome to share or embed our charts, as long as the credit and link to this site stay in place.