Criminals handed sentences of less than a year went on to commit 11m more offences in last 11 years 

Criminals who were handed ‘soft’ sentences of less than a year went on to commit more than 5.5million further offences in the last 11 years, according to new figures.

The release of the figures by the Ministry of Justice comes as ministers call for non-custodial sentences for all but the most serious offences.

However former Cabinet minister Priti Patel described the numbers as ‘shocking’.

Former Cabinet minister Priti Patel described the numbers as ‘shocking’.

Justice Secretary David Gauke urged courts to impose short sentences of less than a year only as a ‘last resort’

Speaking to The Sun, she  said: ‘Too many offenders are being given get-out-of-jail free cards and abusing these to terrorise the public.

‘In their desire to keep people out of prison, judges and magistrates are allowing criminals to return to the streets and put the public in danger.

‘Every day hundreds of victims are let down by the criminal justice system. If more criminals were locked up we’d start to see a fall in crime.’

The Ministry of Justice said there was 5,521,956 crimes recorded in the 11 years up to 2015-16 by offenders who had already been before the police and courts. 

Out of that number, 869,200 had previously been issued with cautions and 824,629 with absolute and conditional discharges. 

1,823,532 were slapped with fine,  while court orders including community sentences and suspended sentences were given to 2,004,595.

Earlier this year, Justice Secretary David Gauke called for courts to impose short sentences of less than a year only as a ‘last resort’.

His Justice Minister Rory Stewart said he also wanted to ‘significantly reduce, if not eliminate’ jail terms of under 12 months as he believed community orders were more effective.

Ministers have argued prisons have stopped working because they have become ‘offender warehouses’.