TerrorismMost U.K. terrorism arrests do not lead to convictions

Fewer than two in ten people detained by police since September 2001 were convicted directly of terrorism or a terrorism-related offence.

The Home Office figures show that 3,349 people in England and Wales were arrested under terrorism laws since the devastating 9/11 attacks in the United States. Of those arrested for terrorism and related offenses, 17.8 percent were convicted for involvement in violent jihad – including plotting attacks or funding or facilitating terrorism.

AOL UK reports that another 10 percent arrested on suspicion of terrorism were convicted of offenses unrelated to the terrorism charges for which they were originally arrested, bringing the total to 27.6 percent. The majority of those arrested were from British Muslim communities.

Politicians and experts have debated why most of those arrested on terrorism-related charges end up not being charged or convicted of any criminal offense.

Lord Paddick, the Lib Dem spokesman on home affairs in the House of Lords, who was deputy assistant commissioner at Scotland Yard, said: “The police need to account for these figures. It is extremely worrying that there is such a high attrition rate between those arrested and those convicted of terrorism offences.

“The most important thing with terrorism is community intelligence and building trust and confidence with those communities from where terrorists come. This sort of statistic will tend to undermine that trust and confidence.”

A spokesman for the National Police Chiefs’ Council said: “No one is arrested without sufficient grounds for suspicion but the legal bar for offenses is rightly set very high, meaning many will not go on to be charged or convicted.

“These powers are applied appropriately and proportionately to keep the public safe and we do not target a specific community. We take all forms of terrorism and extremism seriously – including from the extreme right wing – and will work hard with all communities to tackle it.”

The British counterterrorism system works by having intelligence developed by MI5 passed on to the police to take enforcement action and develop a case that can lead to a conviction in the court.

David Videcette, who served as a detective with Scotland Yard’s counterterrorism command for a decade, told the Guardian that “A lot of the information comes from the security services. A lot of what they give cannot be used as evidence; it is difficult to convert the intelligence into something that can be used in the criminal justice system.

“No one would thank the police if, because the intelligence cannot be converted, they did nothing.”

The Home Office said decisions to arrest were a matter for the police and decisions to prosecute a matter for the Crown Prosecution Service.

AOL UK notes that the latest terrorism figures showed that arrests were down from their peak a year ago.

Since 2014, ISIS ideology has been linked to most threats to inflict jihadist carnage on British soil.

The security minister, Ben Wallace, said: “We are determined to detect, disrupt and where possible prosecute all those who pose a threat to the U.K. The figures released today once again highlight the hard work carried out by the police, security service and Crown Prosecution Service day in and day out to keep the people of this country safe.”