Band 9: The two figures below show the rate of criminal convictions among men and women of different ages in the UK and the proportion of male and female prison inmates in the British prison system.

Given are two figures concerning criminality in Britain. The first provides date on the rates of conviction among men and women of various ages, while the second indicates the gender balance of the UK prison population.

It is apparent from the information supplied that the rate of conviction among Brits of both sexes increases during adolescence and peaks at the age about 20. Also evident is the fact that men are far more likely to offend than women.

From a negligible 2% among 10-year-old boys, the male conviction rate soars to approximately 16% among 20-year-olds. The percentage of female offenders, meanwhile, climbs from 0 percent among girls of 10 to some 5 percent for 20-year-olds. The subsequent decades, however, see dramatic decreases in criminality among both sexes. A mere 2 percent of crimes are commited by 60-year-old men and 0 percent by women of the same age.

As for the proportion of male and female prison inmates, men outnumber women 24 to 1. Some 96 percent of all prisoners are men, while the remainers are female.