Offenders
Index
Information
about convictions for individuals is held on the Home Office
Offenders Index. Data from the courts on court appearances is
added to the Offenders Index on a quarterly basis. Where an
individual has a previous court sentence, information on the
new sentence is added to the criminal history for that individual.
Currently, 7.3 million offenders are listed on the OI, who have
had 16.6 million court appearances and 29.1 million standard
list offences since 1963.
Only court sentences are covered, and only those for ‘standard
list’ offences. Standard list offences include all ‘indictable
only’ and ‘triable either way’ offences and
some of the more serious ‘summary’ offences such
as common assault and driving whilst disqualified or under the
influence of drugs or alcohol.
Data on individual cases is only available to bona fide researchers
evaluating programmes of intervention with offenders.
Police National Computer
In collaboration with the Police Information Technology Organisation,
RDS also has a system for extracting criminal career information
from the Police National Computer. This is a more resource intensive
process. It is used where information on police disposals (cautions,
reprimands and final warnings) is required. Trends in reconviction
rates for juvenile offenders are monitored using PNC data.
OGRS
A predictor tool called Offenders Group Reconviction Scale (OGRS)
has been developed from Offenders Index data. This uses a limited
number of criminal history and demographic factors to assign
a probability that a group of offenders with specific characteristics
will be reconvicted within two years of release from prison
or from the start of a community penalty for any 'standard list’
offence.
Unadjusted reconviction rates
Unadjusted rates are the reconviction rates given by the Offenders
Index for particular disposals or groups of offenders. They
make no allowance for any of the factors that we know to affect
such rates, such as age, type of offence, sex and previous criminal
history. This means that unadjusted rates should not be used
to compare disposals/sentences or to identify trends over time.
Unadjusted reconviction rates are published in:
Prison Statistics England and Wales
Trends over time
To monitor trends in reconviction rates it is necessary to correct
for the changing mix of offenders over time, and for any changes
to the criminal justice system that have had an impact on reconviction
rates regardless of underlying trends in offending.
Trends in reconviction rates for offenders discharged from custody
or commencing community penalties are published in:
Home Office Online Report 16/02
Trends in reconviction rates for juveniles are published in:
Home Office Online Report 18/03
Relative effectiveness
of sentences
Research conducted in the mid 1990s controlled for differences
in the characteristics of offenders sentenced to prison and
probation. This work is now considered to be out of date. A
programme of work is underway to allow for the development of
rates that can be compared across disposals.
Criminal careers
Information on the criminal careers of cohorts born in 1953,
1958, 1963, 1968, 1973 and 1978. It is this work which is the
source of the finding that 33% of males and 9% of females born
in 1953 had a criminal conviction for a standard list offence
by the age of 46.
Most recent findings are published in:
Home
Office Statistical Bulletin 4/01
Related
information
Offenders Index
a users guide
Offenders Index
code book
Related
links
Court data link
Offending surveys link [updated information will be available
at end of March]
Further information
For further information, please contact:
Craig Medhurst
Reconvictions Analysis Team
Craig.Medhurst@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
(tel. 020 7035 3469)
©
Crown Copyright 2005
