Press Statement

Preasráiteas

26 June 2019

Level of reoffending by those sentenced to probation has decreased for the 2012 and 2011 cohorts compared to earlier periods.

Go to release: Probation Recidivism 2011 and 2012 Cohorts

Go to Frequently Asked Questions:Probation Recidivism Frequently Asked Questions

The Central Statistics Office has today (26 June 2019) published the Probation Recidivism Release for the 2012 and 2011 cohorts. The publication is published using the category of Statistics Under Reservation, the category introduced to highlight concerns regarding the quality of underlying data from An Garda Síochána’s PULSE database.

The level of reoffending has fallen from a high of 54.6% in the 2008 cohort to 46.9% in the 2012 cohort. Those sentenced to probation for damage to property (59.6%) and theft offences (57.9%) were most likely to reoffend. The level of recidivism was lower among those sentenced to a Community Service Order than a Probation Order (42.3% vs 52.3%). In line with previous periods, those aged under 18 are twice as likely to reoffend as those aged over 45.

This publication includes revisions to data that was previously published for those sentenced to probation in the period 2008 – 2010. Revisions to previously published data were necessary due to the introduction of methodological improvements and the identification of a processing error which has since been corrected.

Commenting on the latest Probation Recidivism data, Olive Loughnane, Statistician said: “This release provides information on the level of recorded reoffending by offenders that were placed under the supervision of the Irish Probation Service. For an offender to be classified as a recidivist they must be convicted for an offence within three years of the date of their sentence. The conviction must be within two years of the incident taking place. In the case of an offender who was sentenced to Probation on December 31st, 2012 for example, the crime incident must take place before December 31st, 2015 and a conviction must be obtained on or before December 31st, 2017.”

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