This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Reconvictions of Offenders
31/10/2006
Figures released today show that 45 per cent of offenders discharged from custody or given a non-custodial sentence in Scotland in 2002/03 were reconvicted within two years.
This compares with 43 per cent of the cohort of such offenders from 1999-2000.
Other key findings include:
- The likelihood of reconviction increased markedly with the number of previous convictions. Twenty-six per cent of offenders with no previous convictions were reconvicted within two years, compared with 76 per cent of offenders who had more than 10 previous convictions
- Reconviction rates were highest among young male offenders - 56 per cent of males under 21 were reconvicted within two years compared with 36 per cent of males aged over 30 and 37 per cent of female offenders. For all age groups, males were more likely to be reconvicted than females
- Those offenders who were discharged from a custodial sentence (64 per cent) or given probation (63 per cent) were on average more likely to be reconvicted within two years than those given community service (42 per cent) or a monetary penalty (41 per cent). However, once the age, sex and number of previous convictions of offenders were taken into account, these differences were less pronounced
- Offenders whose index conviction was for a crime of dishonesty, including housebreaking, had the highest two-year reconviction rate (58 per cent) whilst the lowest was for sexual crime (17 per cent)
Justice Department statistical bulletins on the reconviction of offenders are published every two years.
The last bulletin, covering offenders discharged from custody or given a non-custodial sentence in 1999, was published in June 2005 and the latest bulletin provides an interim update between the 2005 and 2007 bulletins.
Annual return to custody information is published separately by the Scottish Prison Service, most recently in June 2006.