What proportion of arrests for communications offences in recent years resulted in prosecution, out‑of‑court disposal, or no further action?
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Executive summary
The best available reporting shows UK police made over 12,000 arrests in 2023 for communications offences such as offences under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 and section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988, but fewer than one in ten of those arrests resulted in a sentencing outcome — indicating that prosecutions were a small minority of arrests and many cases did not lead to court punishment [1] [2]. Precise national proportions for prosecutions, out‑of‑court disposals and “no further action” cannot be calculated from centrally published data because government statistics are held by offence group or by individual police FOI returns rather than a consolidated national outcomes dataset [3] [4].
1. What the headline numbers actually show
Reporting based on freedom of information returns compiled by The Times identified “over 12,000” arrests in 2023 for the communications offences named above, a figure summarised across multiple outlets and parliamentary records as “more than 30 arrests a day” [3] [1] [4]. Parliamentary debate has emphasised a 121% rise in such arrests since 2017, underlining rapid growth in enforcement even as downstream convictions have fallen [4] [3].
2. The prosecution end of the funnel — a small slice
Multiple sources converge on the point that convictions and sentencings are a small fraction of arrests: Freedom House notes that although arrests more than doubled since 2017, “in 2023, less than one‑tenth of arrests resulted in sentencing” — a blunt indication that prosecutions culminating in sentencing were under 10% of arrests [2]. The Times’ analysis, echoed in parliamentary and civil‑liberties reporting, used Ministry of Justice data to show convictions have declined even as arrests rose [3] [1].
3. Why the middle (out‑of‑court disposals) and the bottom (no further action) are opaque
Central government data do not publish arrests and their follow‑through by individual communications offence in a single national table; the Home Office publishes arrests by broader offence groups and the MoJ outputs are similarly grouped, so a national breakdown showing prosecutions, cautions, community resolutions or “no further action” tied directly to these communications offences is not available in the public datasets cited by the reporting [3] [5]. Hansard explicitly warns that complexity and overlapping offence types — harassment, sexual offending, domestic abuse — mean police recording practices vary between forces, further blurring the picture [4].
4. Reasonable inferences from the available facts
Given the “over 12,000” arrests in 2023 and the statement that fewer than one‑tenth produced sentencing, it is reasonable to infer that prosecutions leading to sentences numbered in the low thousands at most and likely well below the total arrests figure; however, whether the remainder were resolved by cautions, fixed penalty or community disposals, or simply recorded and discontinued, cannot be established from the cited sources [1] [2]. Independent commentators and organisations (Free Speech Union, Freedom House) stress the gap between arrests and convictions as evidence of over‑reach and a chilling effect, while police and prosecutorial guidance (CPS) point to legitimate reasons arrests occur — persistent, menacing or overlapping criminal conduct that sometimes intersects with serious crimes — which complicates simple headline narratives [6] [7] [2].
5. Competing narratives and institutional incentives
Civil liberties groups and some media frame the statistics as proof of prosecutorial excess and a threat to free speech, citing the arrested‑versus‑convicted gap; law enforcement and prosecutors point to the statutory breadth of communications offences, the procedural need to investigate allegations and the overlap with other crimes, which can justify higher arrest numbers even when charges are not ultimately pursued [6] [7] [4]. The Times’ FOI‑based exposé prompted parliamentary questions in the Lords and an EU Parliament question summarising the same numbers, but those political uses also reflect advocacy priorities on both sides — reformers seeking legal clarification and authorities defending operational decisions [3] [1] [4].
6. Bottom line and limits of the record
The clearest proportion that can be stated from the available reporting is: over 12,000 arrests in 2023 for communications offences and under 10% of those arrests resulted in sentencing — meaning prosecutions producing sentences were a small minority [1] [2]. Exact national proportions for prosecutions (including cases that resulted in acquittal or charge without sentence), out‑of‑court disposals (cautions, conditional cautions, community resolutions) and no further action are not reproducible from the cited government datasets or FOI compilations because of how data are published and how offences are recorded across forces [3] [4] [5].