Ministry of Justice · Ethnicity and the criminal justice system: offender management tables
Average sentence length of prisoners released from determinate sentences
30months
Average sentence length of prisoners released from determinate sentences was 30 months in 2024, up 18.9% (4.8) from 25.2 in 2023.
▲ 18.9% · +4.8 against 2023 (previous year)
- Ministry of Justice estimate
- 2024
- published 17 August 2026
- Table 6.02
- row “Self-identified ethnicity=Total (all); Measure=Average sentence length (months)”
- column “2024”
- cell value 29.9812
2020 to 2024
Breakdowns
What this measures
The mean sentence length, in months, of prisoners released from a determinate sentence in England and Wales in the calendar year, all ethnicities.
What this doesn’t measure
Sentences passed in the year, time actually served (published in the same table), or indeterminate and life sentences.
Important caveat
The average sentence length is the mean determinate sentence, in months, of prisoners released from a determinate sentence in the calendar year, by the ethnicity they gave on entry to prison (Prison-NOMIS). It describes the sentences of people leaving prison that year, not the sentences passed that year, and excludes indeterminate and life sentences. Differences between groups reflect the mix of offences, previous convictions and pleas as well as any difference in sentencing, none of which this table separates. "Not stated/ Unrecorded" is a published row.
Revision history
No period of this series has been revised since it was first ingested here. Revisions are recorded automatically when a later release publishes a different figure for the same period.
Source
- Publisher
- Ministry of Justice
- Publication
- Ethnicity and the criminal justice system: offender management tables
- Release
- 2026-08-17, published 17 August 2026
- Source file
- 6_Offender_Management_Tables_2024.ods
- File SHA-256
- 79e2b4fbb044745b1745477cd51b7c912050b9dfc099b9fecf49326e2d2ff02f
- Retrieved
- 2 September 2026
- Sheet
- 6_02
- Table
- Table 6.02
- Row
- Self-identified ethnicity=Total (all); Measure=Average sentence length (months)
- Column
- 2024
- Cell value
- 29.9812
- Geography
- England and Wales
- Unit
- months
- API
- /api/metrics/average_sentence_length_determinate_releases · /series · /vintages
Government periods
Change during each government, from the level inherited to the last complete period before it left office. Describes the period; does not attribute cause.
- Release
- 2026-08-17 · publication page
- Last updated
- 17 August 2026
- Next release expected
- November 2026 (estimated from the usual cadence)