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3. Background and Methodology
3.1 The information presented in this bulletin is based on data held in the Scottish Offenders Index ( SOI). This database contains statistical information on each conviction in Scottish courts for all offences classified as crimes within the Scottish Government's classification of crimes and offences plus the offences of simple assault, breach of the peace, racially aggravated harassment, racially aggravated conduct, miscellaneous firearm offences and social security offences. Conviction records for individual offenders can be linked by a system of unique reference numbers to enable statistical analysis of their conviction histories, in this case their reconviction outcomes. Further background details on the coverage, definitions and limitations of the SOI and on the methodology used in the analysis presented in this bulletin are given in the Annex.
3.2 The SOI currently contains data on almost 430,000 offenders and approaching 1,500,000 convictions since SOI records began in 1989. Of these offenders, 82 per cent were male. Over half (57 per cent) of the convictions recorded on the SOI are accounted for by the 14 per cent of offenders who each had 6 or more convictions. Only 16 per cent of male offenders and 6 per cent of female offenders present on the SOI had received one or more custodial convictions in the period since 1989, whereas 80 per cent of males and 66 per cent of females had received more than one fine or other monetary penalty. The majority of offenders were dealt with by sheriff summary courts or by the district courts; only 11 per cent of offenders had been convicted in the High Court or in a sheriff solemn court. More information on the profile of offenders covered by the SOI is given in Tables A1 and A2 in the Annex.
3.3 Definitions
The analysis presented in this bulletin focuses on the cohort of offenders who were either discharged from a custodial sentence in 2003-04 or who were given a non-custodial sentence in 2003-04. The following terminology is applied throughout the bulletin:
Index conviction - for each offender in the 2003-04 cohort, this is the conviction which resulted in a non-custodial sentence being imposed or the one which had originally led to a custodial sentence being served.
Relevant date of the index conviction- the sentence date for non-custodial sentences or the estimated date of discharge from custody for custodial convictions.
Index disposal - the type of sentence imposed in the index conviction.
Index crime - the main offence for which the offender was convicted.
Previous convictions - all convictions preceding the relevant date of the index conviction.
Reconvictions - all subsequent convictions after the relevant date of the index conviction.
Custodial reconviction - a reconviction which results in a custodial sentence being imposed.
Rates of reconviction - the percentage of offenders with index convictions in 2003-04 who were reconvicted one or more times within a specified follow up period, for example two years, from the relevant date of the index conviction.
3.4 One particular group of reconvictions included in the general analysis presented in this bulletin are pseudo reconvictions. These are convictions which take place after the relevant date of the index conviction but which relate to offences committed prior to that date. So while they represent actual reconvictions as defined in section 3.3, they are "pseudo" reconvictions in the sense that the offending behaviour involved could not be said to have been influenced by the sentence imposed for the index conviction. As the data held on the SOI does not contain actual offence dates it is not generally possible to separately identify "pseudo" from "real" reconvictions. However, the effect of pseudo reconvictions on overall reconviction rates can be estimated for the majority of the offenders (87 per cent), and this is described further in Section 8.
3.5 It is important to note that information on convictions and reconvictions is not the same thing as information on offending and reoffending, or recidivism. Not all offences which are committed are reported to the police, while some of those that are reported and recorded do not result in an offender being identified, charged and a report being sent to the Procurator Fiscal. For cases which are reported to the Procurator Fiscal, it may be decided to take no proceedings or to employ some alternative to prosecution such as a warning letter or a fiscal fine. Where persons are prosecuted, the proceedings may end up being dropped, e.g. where witnesses fail to turn up, or the accused may be acquitted. Convictions and reconvictions can therefore only ever be a subset of actual offending and reoffending, and reconviction rates only a proxy measure of reoffending rates.
3.6 This analysis of reconviction is an update of the analysis published previously, in June 2005 and October 2006. The findings re-emphasise the picture painted by the previous reports. This bulletin contains additional information on reconviction rates by Community Justice Authority area.
3.7 The Scottish Prison Service also publishes annual return to custody information by gender, type of offender, age of offender, type of offence, length of time in prison prior to release and the time between release and subsequent return for those offenders who return to prison within the follow up period. This information can be accessed via their website at www.sps.gov.uk.
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