Increase in middle-aged 'criminals'

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Government figures made public in a parliamentary answer showed the number of people aged 40 to 49 entering the justice system for the first time rose by 57.4% between 2000/01 and 2007/08.

The number of over 50s in the same position also rose by 46.3% in those seven years from 16,400 to 24,000.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne, who obtained the figures, said the rise was driven by police targets.

He said: "The soaring number of people being criminalised is a direct result of Labour's target-driven, box-ticking approach to policing.

"When cautions for motoring offences and rubbish bin misdemeanours are worth the same as convictions for murder or rape, it is easy to see how we have slipped into mass criminalisation.

"Vast numbers of people are being dragged into the criminal justice system after this Government has created a new crime for every day in office.

"Labour has criminalised a generation and has treated tens of thousands of law-abiding middle-aged and elderly citizens like villains.

"The Liberal Democrats would scrap the Government's ridiculous targets and put more police on the streets to catch real criminals."

But the Home Office said police targets were set locally with public concerns in mind.