The Scottish Government

Title

Reconviction rates

National Indicator/Target

A 2 percentage point reduction in overall reconviction rates by 2011

Brief Description

The percentage of those given a non-custodial sentence or discharged from custody in a given year who are reconvicted within two years.

Strategic Objective(s) to Which Indicator Relates

This indicator informs progress in relation to:

Safer and Stronger; Wealthier and Fairer; Smarter

More Detailed Definitions

Definitions of Keywords

Reconviction rate: Percentage of those given a non-custodial sentence or discharged from custody in a given year who are reconvicted of at least one other offence within two years.

Non-custodial sentences: These include Community Sentence Orders, Supervised Attendance Orders, Probation, Drug Treatment and Testing Orders, Restriction of Liberty Orders and monetary penalties. Two year follow up period begins at date of sentence.

Discharged from custody: Two year follow up period begins at date of release.

Index disposal - the type of sentence imposed for the original conviction.

Evidence Source

The Scottish Offenders Index ( SOI). The SOI covers all convictions since the start of 1989 in Scottish courts for crimes included in Groups 1-5 of the Scottish Government's classification of crimes and offences (crimes of violence, indecency, dishonesty, fire-raising and drugs offences) or the offences of minor assault, breach of the peace, racially aggravated harassment or conduct, miscellaneous firearms offences and social security offences.

Baseline and Past Trends

The 2003/04 cohort of offenders, of which 45% were reconvicted within two years, will be taken as the baseline.

The overall reconviction rate fell from 1995-96 to 1998-99, to 42%, before rising steadily over the last five years.

Past trends in reconviction rates:

Chart : Percentage of offenders discharged from custody or given non-custodial sentences that were reconvicted within two years

Source: Scottish Offenders Index

Methodology

The percentage of those persons given a non-custodial sentence or discharged from custody who are reconvicted within two years is a simple count based on data in the Scottish Offenders Index.

Data Ownership and Quality Assurance

The Reconvictions of Offenders Discharged from Custody or Given Non-Custodial Sentences Statistical Bulletin is an annual National Statistics Publication for Scotland.

Publication of Data

The data is published in the following sources:

Reconvictions of Offenders Discharged from Custody or Given Non-Custodial Sentences Statistical Bulletin

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/10/09091559/0

High Level Summary of Statistics

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/About/HighLevelTrends

Publication schedule: