Proven reoffending statistics - April 2011 - March 2012
This report provides key statistics on proven reoffending in England and Wales.
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Proven re-offending quarterly – April 2011 to March 2012
This report provides key statistics on proven re-offending in England and Wales. It gives proven re-offending figures for adult and juvenile offenders who were released from custody, received a non-custodial conviction at court, received a caution, reprimand or warning, or tested positive for opiates or cocaine between April 2011 and March 2012. A proven re-offence is defined as any offence committed in a one year follow-up period that leads to a court conviction, caution, reprimand or warning in the one year follow-up. Following this one year follow-up, a further six month waiting period is allowed for the offence to be proven in court.
Overall - adult and juvenile offenders
Between April 2011 and March 2012, around 600,000 adult and juvenile offenders were cautioned, convicted (excluding immediate custodial sentences) or released from custody. Around 160,000 of these offenders committed a proven re-offence within a year. This gives an overall proven re-offending rate of 26.5%, representing a small drop of 0.3 percentage points compared to the previous 12 months and a slight fall of 1.4 percentage points since 2000. Since 2000, the overall proven re-offending rate for adult and juvenile offenders has remained fairly stable, fluctuating between around 26% and 29%.
In total, around 460,000 proven re-offences were committed over the one year follow-up period, with those that re-offended committing, on average, 2.9 re-offences each (both adults and juveniles).
Unsurprisingly, offenders with 11 or more previous offences have a higher re-offending rate than those with no previous offences – 47.5% compared to 10.8% in the most recent figures and the same pattern can be seen for previous years.
Serious re-offences: less than 1% of all proven re-offences committed over the one year follow-up period were serious violent or sexual offences with very little change since 2000.
Adult offenders
Around 530,000 adult offenders were cautioned, convicted or released from custody between April 2011 and March 2012 and around 130,000 of them committed a re-offence. This gives a proven re-offending rate of 25.3%. Compared to the previous 12 months, the rate has not changed, but, since 2000, it has seen a slight fall of 0.9 percentage points. Proven re-offending rates for adult offenders have remained fairly flat since 2000 fluctuating between around 25% and 28%.
Adult offenders released from custody
The proven re-offending rate for adult offenders released from custody between April 2011 and March 2012 was 45.8%, a fall of 1.5 percentage points compared to the previous 12 months and a fall of 3.6 percentage points since 2000. Adults who served sentences of less than 12 months, re-offended at a rate of 57.7% compared to 34.4% for those who served sentences of 12 months or more. Since 2005, the overall rate for those released from custody has remained relatively stable at around 46% to 49%. The trends for those released from short and long sentences have both also remained broadly flat since 2005 and are consistent with the overall trend. The rate for those released from short sentences has been consistently higher compared to those released from longer sentences.
Adult offenders starting a court order
The proven re-offending rate for adult offenders starting a court order (Community Order or Suspended Sentence Order) was 34.0%, a small drop of 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous 12 months and down 3.9 percentage points since 2000.
Juvenile offenders
Around 71,000 juvenile offenders were cautioned, convicted or released from custody between April 2011 and March 2012 and around 25,000 of them committed a re-offence. This gives a proven re-offending rate of 35.5%, down 0.3 percentage points from the previous 12 months. While the rate has seen an overall increase of 1.8 percentage points since 2000, the cohort has changed considerably over this time; it has almost halved in size due to a substantial decrease in the number of first time entrants to the criminal justice system and, as such, is comprised of offenders whose characteristics mean that they are more likely to re-offend than those in the 2000 cohort. A first time entrant is an offender who has received their first reprimand, warning, caution or conviction for an offence.
Juvenile offenders released from custody
The proven re-offending rate for juvenile offenders released from custody between April 2011 and March 2012 was 69.3%. This represents a fall of 3.3 percentage points compared to the previous 12 months and a fall of 7.5 percentage points since 2000.
This quarterly bulletin presents the proportion of offenders who re-offend (proven re-offending rate) and the number of proven re-offences those offenders commit by age group, gender, criminal history and offence type. Also included are proven re-offending rates for serious proven re-offending, different types of sentence, and for individual prisons and probation trusts.
Latest figures are provided with comparisons to April 2010 to March 2011 and the year 2000 in order to highlight long-term trends; 2000 is the earliest year for which proven re-offending data exist on a comparable basis.
The bulletin is produced and handled by the ministry’s analytical professionals and production staff.
Pre-release access of up to 24 hours is granted to the following persons:
Ministry of Justice:
Secretary of State, Ministers of State, Permanent Secretary, Director General of Justice Policy Group, Deputy Director of Youth Justice Policy, Director of Sentencing and Rehabilitation, Director General of Corporate Performance Group, Director of Analytical Services, Director General of Transforming Justice, Head of National Operations Group, Head of Justice Statistics Analytical Services, Head of Sentencing Policy and Penalties Unit, Deputy Director for Offender Management Reform, Deputy Director of Reducing Reoffending Portfolio, Deputy Director for Reducing Reoffending, Head of National Operations Group (NOMS), Director General of National Offender Management Service (NOMS), Head of Public Protection Casework Section (NOMS), Head of Offender Management and Public Protection Unit (NOMS), Head of Performance, Information and Analysis Group (NOMS), Head of Research (YJB), and the relevant special advisers, analysts, policy officers and press officers.
Home Office:
Secretary of State, Ministers of State, Permanent Secretary, Programme Director of Crime and Policing Analysis Unit, Head of Reducing Reoffending Unit, and relevant special advisers, analysts, policy officers and press officers.
No 10: Special adviser to the Prime Minister
Treasury:
Ministry of Justice Finances and Strategy, Public Services Group
Annex A - Interim re-conviction figures for Peterborough and Doncaster Payment by Results pilots
One official from each of SERCO and Social Finance.