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16. Characteristics of persons receiving community sentences ( Tables 76 to 87)
16.1 The information provided in the previous sections was provided to the Scottish Executive in aggregate returns from local authorities throughout Scotland or by Reliance Monitoring Services. This section provides contextual information from the Scottish Executive Court Proceedings database on convictions resulting in a community sentence, convictions for breaching a community sentence and reconvictions of offenders who have received community sentences. This data is not directly comparable to the criminal justice social work figures already provided since it is derived from a different system and relates to a different time period.
16.2 In 2003, 14,650 convictions in Scottish Courts resulted in a community sentence. The majority of these involved males (84 per cent) and persons aged 25 or under (56 per cent). Over half (58 per cent) resulted in a Probation Order and just under a third (31 per cent) in a Community Service Order. For comparison, the statistical bulletin Criminal Proceedings in Scottish Courts, 2003, shows that a further 16,607 convictions resulted in a custodial sentence.
16.3 These 14,650 convictions resulting in a community sentence relate to 6,414 individual offenders. One quarter of these individuals had no previous convictions, 24 per cent had 1 or 2 previous convictions, 36 per cent had 3 to 10 previous convictions and 15 per cent had over 10. Twenty-five per cent had at least one previous custodial conviction, 44 per cent had at least one previous community conviction and 45 per cent had at least one previous conviction for crimes of dishonesty.
16.4 In 2003, individual offenders who received probation had on average 5.5 previous convictions and those who received community service (including a small number of individuals who received supervised attendance orders) had an average of 3.4 previous convictions. Those receiving a restriction of liberty order or a drug treatment and testing order had averages of 7.1 and 15.5 previous convictions respectively.
16.5 Individuals in the total cohort of offenders who received community sentences in 2003, had on average 5.1 previous convictions, 1.2 previous custodial convictions, 1.2 previous community convictions and 2.3 previous convictions for crimes of dishonesty.
16.6 In 2003, there were 3,969 proceedings for breach of a community sentence which resulted in a charge proved, 13 per cent lower than the figure of 4,553 in 1999. Eighty-five per cent of these involved males and 66 per cent involved those aged under 25.
16.6 Breaches of a probation order accounted for 63 per cent (2,519) of proceedings with a charge proved for breaching a community sentence in 2003. A further 29 per cent of proceedings had a charge proved for breaching a community service order, 5 per cent for breaching a supervised attendance order and 3 per cent for breaching a RLO or a DTTO.
16.7 Of these 3,969 proceedings with a charge proved, 38 per cent resulted in a custodial sentence, 17 per cent in probation and 11 per cent in community service. The remaining 34 per cent resulted in a supervised attendance order, restriction of liberty order, drug treatment or testing order or unknown sentence. Proceedings for breaching a SAO or a probation order were most likely to receive a custodial penalty (45 per cent and 41 per cent respectively). Proceedings involving males (40 per cent) were more likely than those involving females (29 per cent) to receive a custodial sentence as their main penalty.
16.8 Proceedings for breaching a community sentence order which resulted in a custodial penalty had an average length of custodial sentence of 82 days in 2003. This is a slight decrease on the 2002 figure of 88 days but similar to the 83 days in 1999. The average custodial sentence length was 95 days for breaching a probation order, 155 days for breaching an RLO or DTTO and 32 days for breaching a supervised attendance order.
16.9 The statistical bulletin ' Reconvictions of offenders discharged from custody or given non-custodial sentences in 1999, Scotland' considers two year reconviction rates broken down by the age and sex of offenders, sentence type and the main crime for which they are convicted. This showed that, for offenders discharged from custody or given non-custodial sentences in 2001, 44 per cent were reconvicted within two years. For the subset of this cohort who were given a community penalty in 2001 the rates were 42 per cent for Community Service (including SAOs) and 60 per cent for Probation (including RLOs and DTTOs). These rates represent a decrease of 3 percentage points for Community Service, an increase of 1 percentage point for Probation and an overall increase for the full cohort of 1 percentage point since 1997. For the subset of the 2001 cohort who were given a custodial sentence the two year rate of reconviction was 62 per cent.
16.10 Males were more likely to be reconvicted than females for all age groups. Forty-five per cent of males and 36 per cent of females were reconvicted within two years. In particular for the subset with a main penalty of Community Service, 44 per cent of males were reconvicted within two years compared to 26 per cent of females. For Probation this difference is less pronounced, with 62 per cent of males being reconvicted within two years compared to 57 per cent of females.
16.11 The likelihood of reconviction increases markedly with the number of previous convictions. For the cohort subset who received Community Service, 24 per cent of offenders who had no previous convictions were reconvicted within two years compared to 70 per cent who had over ten previous convictions. Of those with over 10 previous custodial convictions 48 per cent received a further custodial sentence within two years. Similarly for Probation, 43 per cent of those with no previous convictions and 80 per cent of those with over 10 previous convictions were reconvicted within two years.
16.12 Reconviction rates for each order varied depending on the type of crime in the original conviction. For those in the probation subset, 22 per cent of those with a sexual index crime were reconvicted within two years compared to 77 per cent of those whose index crime was a crime of dishonesty.
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