Vagrancy
Date of request: 8 August 2023
Reference: 955-23
Request
Please can you inform me of the number of:
A) Arrests
B) Convictions
C) Fines
D) Conditional charges
E) Custody/ custodies
your police force has carried out in enforcing the Vagrancy Act of 1824, each broken down by ethnicity, over the last five calendar years (2018-2022). Please provide this in a spreadsheet if possible.
Response
A) The following table shows the recorded number of arrests in relation to the Vagrancy Act of 1824 in the requested time frame.
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | Sum: | ||||
| 182/00 | Begging in a public place | 18 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 39 | ||
| 182/00 | Begging in a public place – second or subsequent occasion | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||||
| 185/01 | Vagrant – being found in or upon enclosed premises | 15 | 31 | 20 | 13 | 22 | 101 | ||
| Sum: | 36 | 36 | 30 | 15 | 27 | 144 |
The following table shows the subjects’ self-defined ethnicity for the above offences in the requested time frame.
| DP Defined Ethnicity | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | Sum: |
| A2. Pakistani | 1 | 1 | ||||
| B1. Caribbean | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||
| B2. African | 2 | 4 | 6 | |||
| M1. White and Black Caribbean | 1 | 1 | ||||
| M9. Any other mixed | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||
| NS. Not stated | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| O9. Any other | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||
| W1. British | 25 | 26 | 18 | 12 | 20 | 101 |
| W2. Irish | 1 | 1 | ||||
| W3. Gypsy or Irish Traveller | 1 | 1 | ||||
| W9. Any other white background | 7 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 17 |
| Sum: | 36 | 36 | 29 | 15 | 27 | 143 |
B, C and E) I can advise that our crime recording system only holds results back from magistrates’ courts. We understand that crown court results are held on a Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) system. As such we usually only provide information on how many investigations have led to a charge (rather than conviction) – see this below in answer to D). You may be able to obtain the prosecution outcome data by going on to the CPS website.
The CPS also have a Freedom of Information publication scheme which you can view by clicking on this link.
You may wish to make a Freedom of information request to the CPS yourself. Requests may be made by email to IAT@cps.gov.uk or in writing to:
Information Access Team
Crown Prosecution Service
102 Petty France
London SW1H 9EA
D) The following table shows the recorded outcome in the requested time frame.
| Begging in a public place | Begging in a public place – second or subsequent occasion | Vagrant – being found in or upon enclosed premises | Sum: | |||
| Caution Disposals | 6 | 2 | 8 | |||
| Charge/Reported | 26 | 3 | 24 | 53 | ||
| Police Bail | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Postal Requisition | 16 | 1 | 13 | 30 | ||
| Released Without Charge | 4 | 0 | 57 | 61 | ||
| Under Investigation | 32 | 32 | ||||
| 32 | 3 | 39 | 74 | |||
| Sum: | 84 | 7 | 169 | 260 |
E) If by ‘custody’ you are requesting the number of individuals placed in custody following an arrest, this has been answered above in question A. If you are referring instead to individuals in custody following a court conviction, please see our response above for question B. If you are referring to anything else, please feel free to submit a further request clarifying the information you seek.