The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents | Next »

Listen

7. Geographic analysis

7.1 The analysis in this section compares two year reconviction rates for the 2003-04 cohort of offenders across approximate Local Authority areas, Community Justice Authorities and Police Forces. Whilst this approach provides a useful estimate for these areas, it is important to note that an offender may not always be supervised in the area in which they are convicted and, additionally, that subsequent reconvictions may have occurred in different areas. The characteristics of offenders are also likely to vary across these areas.

Table 14: Persons released from a custodial sentence or given a non-custodial sentence in 2003-04
Percentage reconvicted within 6 months to 2 years by approximate Community Justice Authority and Local Authority Areas ⁽¹⁾

1. Approximate areas are based on the court of the offenders index conviction. Some sheriff Court boundaries include more than one local authority area.
2. Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire (Aberdeen, Banff, Stonehaven and Peterhead Sheriff Courts).
3. City of Edinburgh and Midlothian (Edinburgh Sheriff Court).
4. Parts of East Dunbartonshire and Argyll & Bute are also served by Glasgow Sheriff Court as well as the Sheriff Courts in North Strathclyde. However, since this analysis is based on an approximation of court areas, East Dunbartonshire and Argyll & Bute have been included with North Strathclyde whilst Glasgow Sheriff Court is included with glasgow CJA area.
5. Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire (Paisley Sheriff Court).
6. North and South Lanarkshire (Airdrie, Hamiilton and Lanark Sheriff Courts).
7. East, North and South Ayrshire (Kilmarnock and Ayr Sheriff Courts).
8. Includes the Stipendiary Magistrates court.
9. Includes High Court and Remit to High.

7.2 The 2003-04 cohort can be grouped into approximate local authority areas based on the court of their index conviction, as in Table 14. This shows that the highest reconviction rate was for offenders whose index conviction was heard at a court in the Clackmannanshire area: over half of such offenders were reconvicted within two years. By contrast, the lowest reconviction rates were for offenders whose index conviction was received at a court in the Orkney Islands or Shetland Islands, around a third of such offenders were reconvicted within two years. (It should be noted, however, that the number of offenders in these areas are relatively small).

7.3 These approximate Local Authority areas can also be grouped into Community Justice Authority areas. Table 14 shows that the highest two year reconviction rate is for offenders whose index conviction was heard at a court either in Fife and Forth Valley or Glasgow areas (47 per cent). The area with the lowest reconviction rate was Lothian & Borders (41 per cent).

7.4 Table 15 illustrates the variation in reconviction rates by police force area of index conviction. The two year reconviction rates for Central (48 per cent) and Dumfries & Galloway (47 per cent) were all slightly above the Scottish average (45 per cent). In contrast, the rates for Grampian (44 per cent), Lothian & Borders (41 per cent) and Northern (43 per cent) were all below the Scottish average.

7.5 Offenders whose index conviction was recorded in the Dumfries & Galloway police force area have the highest rate of custodial reconvictions within two years (17 per cent) whilst the lowest rate is for those whose index conviction was recorded in the Northern police force area (11 per cent).

Table 15: Persons released from a custodial sentence or given a non-custodial sentence in 2003-04
Percentage reconvicted within 6 months to 2 years by police force of index conviction

« Previous | Contents | Next »