Re-offending

Proven re-offending quarterly

This report provides key statistics on proven re-offending in England and Wales. It gives proven re-offending figures for offenders who were released from custody, received a non-custodial conviction at court, received a caution, reprimand, warning or tested positive for opiates or cocaine between April 2009 and March 2010. Proven re-offending is defined as any offence committed in a one year follow-up period and receiving a court conviction, caution, reprimand or warning in the one year follow up. Following this one year period, a further 6 months is allowed for cases to progress through the courts.

Between April 2009 and March 2010, there were around 680,000 offenders who were cautioned, convicted (excluding immediate custodial sentences) or released from custody. Just under 180,000 of these offenders committed a proven re-offence within a year. This gives a one-year proven re-offending rate of 26.3 per cent.

These re-offenders committed an average of 2.80 offences each - around 500,000 offences in total – 79 per cent were committed by adults and 21 per cent were committed by juveniles.

Over half of these offences were committed by offenders with more than 25 previous offences.
0.7 per cent (around 3,300) were serious violent/sexual proven re-offences.

This report presents the proportion of offenders who re-offend (proven re-offending rate) and the number of proven re-offences those offenders commit by age group, gender, ethnicity, criminal history, offence type, serious proven re-offending, prolific and priority offenders and drug misusing offenders. Also included are proven re-offending rates for different types of sentence and by individual prison, probation trust and youth offending team.

Latest figures are provided with comparisons to the previous 12 months, results are also compared to 2000 to highlight long-term trends; 2000 is the earliest re-offending data that exists on a comparable basis.

The bulletin is produced and handled by the ministry's analytical professionals and production staff.

Pre-release access of up to 24 hours is granted to the following persons:

Ministry of Justice:
Secretary of State, Ministers of State, Permanent Secretary, Director General Justice Policy Group, Director Sentencing and Rehabilitation, Director General Corporate Performance Group, Director Analytical Services, Head of Justice Statistics Analytical Services, Head of Green Paper and System Reform Team, Chief Executive Officer (NOMS), Head of National Operations Group (NOMS), Operations Director and Director of Offender Management (NOMS), Head of Public Protection Casework Section (NOMS), Head of Public Protection and Mental Health Group (NOMS), Head of Sexual and Violent Offending (NOMS), Head of Performance, Information and Analysis Group (NOMS), Head of Commissioning & Partnership Support (NOMS),
Chief Executive of Youth Justice Board, Director of Strategy (YJB)
and the relevant special advisers, policy officers and press officers.

Home Office:
Home Secretary, Ministers of States, Permanent Secretary, Director-General Crime and Policing Group, Director of Drugs, Alcohol and Community Safety Directorate,
Director of Crime Directorate, Head of Reducing Re-offending Unit, Head of Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour Reduction Unit, and relevant special advisers, policy officers and press officer.

Department for Children, Schools and Families: press officer

No 10: Special adviser to the Prime Minister

Treasury: Ministry of Justice Finances and Strategy, Public Services Group