Number of people with convictions

• There are over 11 million people with a criminal record.

• There are approximately 735,000 people with unspent convictions.

• 33 per cent of males born in 1953 had been convicted in England and Wales by 2006 of at least one standard list offence before the age of 53 (Standard list offences include all indictable and triable-either-way offences and certain summary offences). Just over half of these had been convicted on only one occasion. 85% were convicted before they were 30 years old.

• 9 per cent of females born in 1953 had been convicted of at least one standard list offence before the age of 53. Three-quarters of these had been convicted on only one occasion.

• Over a quarter (26 per cent) of the 4.9 million open claims for out-of-work benefits as at 1 December 2010 in England and Wales were made by people who had received at least one caution or conviction between 2000 to 2010.

• A third (33 per cent) of the 1.2 million total Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) claims open on 1 December 2010 in England and Wales were made by people who had received at least one caution or conviction between 2000 to 2010.