Guilty Pleas
Key Facts and Statistics
by Raphael Freund & Annalena Wolcke
Last updated: Nov 2025
Fact 2
Aside from a spike during the pandemic, guilty plea
rates in the Crown Court have remained stable.
MAXIMUM: 72% in 2020
MINIMUM: 61% in 2024
Fact 3
In the Crown Court, most guilty pleas are entered before the trial.
Of 76,634 defendants who went to trial in 2024,
44,357 entered a guilty plea.
36,642 of these guilty pleas were entered before the trial.
7,865 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 than to attract guilty pleas.
| Offence Group | Guilty Plea Rate (%) |
|---|---|
| Drug offences | 75 |
| Robbery | 72 |
| Theft offences | 71 |
| Summary motoring | 69 |
| Criminal damage and arson | 67 |
| Miscellaneous crimes against society | 66 |
| Public order offences | 62 |
| Possession of weapons | 60 |
| Fraud offences | 58 |
| Violence against the person | 55 |
| Summary non-motoring | 40 |
| Sexual offences – child rape | 21 |
| Sexual offences – adult rape | 13 |
Fact 5
Men are slightly more likely than
women to plead guilty.
In the 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 2024,
74%
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.
MAXIMUM: 74% in 2024
MINIMUM: 44% in 2020
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 a.wolcke@sentencingacademy.org.uk
- Facts 1-2, 6-7: GOV.uk (2025). Charge to Case Completion at Court, accessed 24th of October, 2025. https://criminal-justice-delivery-data-dashboards.justice.gov.uk/improving-timeliness/courts;
Facts 1, 3-4, 6: Ministry of Justice (2025). Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly, April to June 2025, published 25th of September. Crown Court plead tool. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-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. ↩︎