As illustrated in the figures above, the short term offender population made up 83.5% in008/9, 86.4% in 2009/10 and 87.2% in 2010/11. This pattern of admitting short term offenders makes it imperative to introduce more alternative sanctions other than incarceration and to ensure that most offenders go through the current community sanctions in order to reduce the number of offenders in correctional institutions. Currently, the alternative sentence in place for this type of offenders is Community Service Orders (CSO). However, this is not as yet introduced in other regions other than the northern regions. Alternative sanctions have benefits for government in terms of cost saving on resources to maintain daily needs of offenders who are incarcerated. Conversely, incarceration of non-serious offenders may lead to these type of offenders being exposed to serious or hardcore offenders which will ultimately turn them into becoming serious offenders and an even more serious threat to society. Table 19: Age group of sentenced offenders in the NCS Number of offenders per duration Length of sentence Up to 18 18 - 21 21 - 29 29 -39 39 - 49 49 -59 Over 59 Total Grand Total Male 258 588 1660 1119 313 48 2008/9 Female 21 57 84 52 16 - 12 3958 1 231 4189 Total 279 605 1744 1171 329 48 % 7% 14% 42% 28% 8% 1% Male 194 593 1641 961 289 43 2009/10 Female 7 27 78 34 16 8 13 - 16 3737 1 171 3908 Total 201 620 1719 995 305 51 17 % 5% 16% 44% 25% 8% 1% - Male 229 539 1636 1043 317 77 2010/11 Female 7 27 82 68 17 8 14 3855 205 Total 236 566 1718 1111 334 85 14 % 6% 14 42% 27% 8% 2% - 4064 From the above figures, there is an indication that offenders between the age of 21-29 (aver. 42%) make up the majority of offenders, followed by those in the age group of 29-39 (aver. 27%) and 18-21 (aver.14%). Juveniles (under 18 years) only made up an average of 6% over the three years under review. - 87 -