Over 95,000 sentences handed down last year

New Zealand courts handed down more than 95,000 sentences last year, the highest total since 1989 when there were nearly 111,000.

Ministry of Justice statistics released today show total sentences for 2008 at 95,440.

The largest proportion of them, 44,015, were fines. There were 10,143 custodial sentences and 30,206 community sentences.

The number of charges that were prosecuted during the year was 336,865.

The ministry said the conviction and sentencing statistics showed that between 1999 and 2008 there were improved prosecution outcomes, a decreasing proportion of drug and property offences and an increase in convictions for violent crime and traffic offences.

- NZPA