Guilty Pleas
Key Facts and Statistics
by Annalena Wolcke & Raphael Freund
Last updated: Jun 2026
Fact 2
Aside from a spike during the pandemic, guilty plea
rates in the Crown Court have remained stable.
Fact 3
In the Crown Court, most guilty pleas are entered before the trial.
Of 79,391 defendants who went to trial in 2025,
46,332 entered a guilty plea.
38,366 of these guilty pleas were entered before the trial.
7,966 guilty pleas came in the context of a cracked trial.
Note: Cracked trials refer to cases in which a trial is scheduled but does not take place because the defendant changes their plea from not guilty to guilty at the last minute.
Fact 4
Sexual offences are less likely to attract guilty pleas.
| Offence Group | Guilty Plea Rate (%), Crown Court, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Drug offences | 78 |
| Robbery | 74 |
| Theft offences | 72 |
| Miscellaneous crimes against society | 71 |
| Criminal damage and arson | 69 |
| Fraud Offences | 61 |
| Public order offences | 61 |
| Possession of weapons | 60 |
| Violence against the person | 55 |
| Summary non-motoring | 41 |
| Sexual offences | 35 |
| Sexual offences – child rape | 24 |
| Sexual offences – adult rape | 12 |
Fact 5
Men are slightly more likely than
women to plead guilty.
In Crown Court in 2023, 60% of female defendants pleaded
guilty, while 67% of male defendants pleaded guilty.2
Fact 6
Guilty Pleas in the Magistrates’ Courts
In 2025,
72%
of defendants charged with a serious offence in a magistrates’ court pleaded guilty.
Note: “serious” offences refer to indictable and
triable either way (i.e., non-summary) offences.
Fact 7
For serious cases in magistrates’ courts, the guilty plea rate dipped during the pandemic and has since reached a new peak.
This infographic is one of a series on sentencing trends in England & Wales. Others can be found here. For further information, contact Annalena Wolcke at [email protected]
- Facts 1-2, 6-7: GOV.uk (2026). Charge to Case Completion at Court, accessed 26th of June. https://criminal-justice-delivery-data-dashboards.justice.gov.uk/quality-justice/courts?time=Quarterly&offence=All+crime&area=National&id=completed_cases_percent#guilty_plea_rate_serious–table;
Facts 1, 3-4, 6: Ministry of Justice (2026). Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly, October to December 2026, published 26th of March. Crown Court plead tool. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2025. ↩︎ - Data source for fact 5: Ministry of Justice (2025). Women and the Criminal Justice System 2023, published 30th of January, p. 29. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/679b44b5f2c688b4b630eab4/Statistics_on_Women_and_the_Criminal_Justice_System_2023.pdf. ↩︎