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Produced by the Sentencing Academy

Snapshot 10

Grievous Bodily Harm

Bringing together relevant statistics and trends relating to sentencing

by Annalena Wolcke

Last updated: Aug 2026

Overview

  • Inflicting grievous bodily harm/unlawful wounding:
    • Sentencing Council guideline range: community order to a 4-years and 6-months prison sentence
    • Maximum sentence: 5-years’ imprisonment
  • Causing grievous bodily harm with intent to do grievous bodily harm:
    • Sentencing Council guideline range: 2 to 16-year prison sentence
    • Maximum sentence: life imprisonment
  • Aggravating factor: racially or religiously aggravated GBH
  • Convictions for this offence have stayed relatively consistent over the last 10 years, with a high of over 4,700 convictions in 2015 and a low of less than 3,300 in 2020
  • Convictions in 2025: 4,571
  • This snapshot summarises key trends over the past 5 years

Sentences Imposed

Figure 1: Sentences for Grievous Bodily Harm, 2021-2025

  • Over 60% of convictions resulted in a term of immediate imprisonment.1
  • A further 30% resulted in a Suspended Sentence Order.2

Figure 2: Sentences Imposed for Grievous Bodily Harm, 2021-2025

  • Trends in the use of principal sanctions for grievous bodily harm have been relatively stable over the last 5 years.

Immediate Prison Sentence Lengths

Figure 3: Prison Sentence Lengths, Grievous Bodily Harm, 2025

  • The most frequent sentence range is between 2 to 8 years, accounting for 61% of all immediate custodial sentences.
  • Approximately 6% of prison sentences are over 8 years.

Sentencing Outcomes by Sex

Figure 5: Sentencing Outcomes by Sex, Grievous Bodily Harm, 2025

  • Female (n=355); Male (n=4,112)
  • In 2025, the custody rate for grievous bodily harm was higher for men (63%) than for women (37%).

These rates do not account for various factors that influence sentencing decisions, such as the offender’s criminal history and the seriousness of the specific offence. Additional research would be needed to determine whether gender affected the sentence imposed.

This Snapshot 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]

  1. Data source for all figures: Data calculated from Ministry of Justice (2026), Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly: December 2025, published 30th of April. Outcomes by offence data tool, Table 2. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-statistics-quarterly-december-2025 ↩︎
  2. ‘Other sanctions’ include: fines, compensation, discharges, and the category ‘otherwise dealt with’ ↩︎