PTA - Figures 1974-1990
01 May 1991
On March 1st, the Home Office released the latest statistics on the PTA. These form part of a series which began in 1979. They provide only a limited amount of information on the operation of the powers and provisions of the Act. There is no breakdown on either the sex or the age of those examined, detained or arrested. In addition, there have been numerous changes in the compilation of the statistics which makes comparisons over time difficult.
The Act initially applied "to acts of terrorism connected with the affairs in Northern Ireland". In 1984 the legislation was extended to include "any acts of terrorism of any other description" except those solely concerned with the affairs of Britain. A number of key tables, however, make no distinction between the two.
In 1990 there were 193 detentions, of which 163 or 83 per cent were recorded as connected with Northern Ireland affairs. Over three-quarters of the 163 detainees were released without being charged or excluded.
Since 1974 a total of 6,932 people have been detained in connection with Northern Ireland affairs and nearly 6,000 have been released without any action being taken against them. Figure 1 shows the number of detentions, two-thirds of which occurred at ports and airports, and the outcome for the years 1974 to 1990. As can been seen, although the number of detentions declined throughout the seventies and early eighties, the percentage of people released without being charged or excluded has remained very high over the whole period.
[All charts and figures are only available in a hard-copy format. Please contact Statewatch for further information]
Under the PTA people can be detained for up to 7 days. Of the 6,932 people detained since 1974, one in every six were held for more than 48 hours. The proportion however varied greatly between those detained at ports and airports and those detained inland, with 1 in every 2 held inland being detained for more than 48 hours. No adequate information is available on the number of people held for periods of detention between 2 and 7 days. But between November 29th, 1979 and March 26th 1984, 163 were held for more than 3 days and released without any action and between March 22nd 1984 and December 31st, 1990 another 98 were held for over 3 days some of whom may have been charged or excluded.
Figure 2 records what happened to those that were not released each year. It shows that exclusion orders reached a peak in 1978 and 1979 declined in the early 1980s and then rose again in the late 1980s. The numbers charged under the Act rose in the late seventies and early eighties and then declined. Those charged with other offences reflect a more varied pattern. Of the total number detained in the whole period, 86.3% had been released, 4.8% had been excluded, 3.1% charged with offences under the PTA, and 5.5% charged with other offences.
Figure 3 notes the outcome of all charges brought under the PTA in connection with Northern Ireland affairs. There are five main categories of offence under the PTA: failure to comply with an exclusion order or helping a person to breach one; soliciting, receiving or giving money for either a proscribed organisation or for use in acts of terrorism; withholding information about acts of terrorism; failure to cooperate with examination at port; and displaying support for a proscribed organisation.
Two hundred and fourteen people were charged with these PTA offences in the period November 29th, 1974 to December 31st, 1990 and over three quarters were found guilty. Of these over half received non-custodial sentences. Of those that received a custodial sentence, more than half received a sentence of one year or less.
Figure 4 shows the outcome of charges brought under other legislation, including 45 charges concerning international affairs. The charges cover a wide range of offences from murder and conspiracy to cause explosions to theft and burglary. Of the 434 charged in Britai