ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author analyses the age, gender, ethnicity and sentences imposed. He demonstrates that African-caribbean defendants were over-represented in high-tariff sentences. The author presents analysis in the form of a comparison between ethnic groups in order to establish whether the over-representation amongst high-tariff sentences can be explained by seriousness or previous records. The quantitative element of the study analysed profiles of 282 cases being all those heard in Wolverhampton Juvenile Court in 1990. It aims to identify general trends before revealing specific patterns in relation to high-tariff sentencing. The peak age of defendants was 16 years. 7.1% of cases were girls and young women who were aged between 13 and 17 years. The age distribution of the high tariff sentence group largely reflected the trend in the overall court sample, although there were certain specific variations. The ethnicity of defendants in the year of the study was very much in line with previous years as identified by Social Services.
