Circumstances of People Linked to Justice Sanctions 2017-2023

Introduction

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has developed a statistical profile to describe the earnings of persons who have received two types of justice sanctions and are active in the labour market. Similar to the wider population, not all persons linked to sanctions such as probation or prison are actively working. This chapter provides a comparison of persons who either received a probation order or who were released from prison in 2020, and are active in the labour market, with earnings estimates of the wider population who are also in the labour market.

In this analysis, the characteristics of persons who received either a probation order or who were released from prison in 2020 have been matched to data of their earnings (as employees) provided to the CSO by the Revenue Commissioners from the years 2017 until 2023. Earnings data on those persons who are self-employed are not included in this analysis. The matching years were selected to provide indicators for the three years prior to and three years after the justice sanction period issued by the courts. This allows the statistical analysis to chart the earnings dynamics of those who have received justice sanctions over time. See Background Notes for more information.

The linkage and analysis were undertaken by the CSO for statistical purposes in line with the Statistics Act, 1993 and the CSO Data Protocol.

Earnings estimate calculation

The earnings estimate for the following statistics are calculated using the individual’s gross earnings data that is paid by an employer (before deduction of tax, PRSI and superannuation).

The tables present median earnings statistics and are compiled using administrative data sources. The primary data source is the Revenue Commissioner’s employee tax data. To compare the earnings data of those linked to justice sanctions with existing population estimates for earnings as employees, the following exclusions have been applied:

• Earnings less than €500 as an employee during a tax reference year.
• Earners who worked for less than 2 reference weeks during the tax reference year or who had extremely high earnings (greater than €15,000 per week).
• Secondary employments less than €4,000 per annum.
• Employment activity in economic sectors of the economy that correspond to Agriculture, household employment and extraterritorial bodies (Sectors A, T and U) have also been excluded from the analysis to keep a consistent comparison with existing earnings publication methodology.

Further details of the methodology can be found in the Background Notes of this publication and in the CSO’s current publication using equivalent earnings estimates, Earnings Analysis using Administrative Data Sources.

Persons released from prison sentences in 2020 and living in the South-West region earned €738 a week in 2023

The median earnings of former probationers or prisoners varied depending on the region where they live. In the Midland region persons who received probation orders in 2020 and who were active in the employment market had median weekly earnings of €581 while those living in the South-East region had median weekly earnings of €615. The largest difference in earnings between those linked to either probation or prison and the overall population of employees was found in Dublin. In this region former prisoners (€604) earned 80% of the median earnings of the overall population of employees (€755). See Figure 2.1, Table 2.1, and PxStat Tables CPLJS03 & CPLJS04.

Former prisoners aged 36-40 experienced the most significant drop in earnings during the period of their justice related sanction

In 2019, a year prior to release, former prisoners aged 36-40 years old earned €659 euro a week. In contrast, in 2021 a year after release they had median earnings of €633 a week, €26 a week less. Probationers who received probation orders in 2020 had an increase in median pay across all age categories during the same period. Overall, the median weekly earnings of persons who received a probation order in 2020 increased from €507 in 2019 to €561 in 2021, an increase of €54 a week. In contrast, the median pay of the population in employment increased from €572 to €620 a week, an increase of €48 a week. See Figure 2.2, Tables 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, and PxStat Tables CPLJS05 & CPLJS06.

The weekly employment earnings of females linked with justice sanctions continues to be significantly less than males

In 2023, males who had been released from custodial sentences in 2020 had median earnings of €679 a week. In contrast, females who had also been released in 2020 had median earnings of €457 a week, €222 (33%) less than males. Females typically account for 8 percent of the prison release population in any given year. The gap in median pay between male probationers and all male employees narrowed from €107 in 2020 to just €70 by 2023. In contrast, the pay difference between female probationers and all female employees increased from €156 in 2020 to €160 by 2023 three years after their probation orders. See Figure 2.3, Tables 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, and PxStat Tables CPLJS07, CPLJS08, & CPLJS24.

Probationers and those released from custody who re-offended within a year earn less than non-re-offenders

Former prisoners and former probationers from 2020 who went on to re-offend within a year had lower weekly median earnings than non-re-offenders. During 2023, former probationers that had re-offended within a year of probation were earning €582 per week. In contrast, former probationers who had not re-offended within a year of receiving a probation order in 2020 had median earnings of €639 a week. Former prisoners released in 2020 who re-offended within a year also tended to receive lower pay from earnings than those who did not re-offend. For example, during 2022 non re-offenders who had been released from prison in 2020 (€636) earned €24 a week more than re-offenders (€612). See Figure 2.4, Tables 2.8, 2.9, and PxStat Tables CPLJS09 & CPLJS10.

Accommodation, Food, and Retail sectors of the economy provided former prisoners and probationers the highest relative weekly pay compared with all persons

In 2023, three years after receiving a probation order, persons who worked in the Arts (€493 a week), Wholesale & Retail trade (€530 a week), or Accommodation & Food services (€408 a week) sectors of the economy received a greater weekly pay compared with the median for all persons working in these sectors (€421, €498, and €370 per week respectively). In contrast, former prisoners (€355) or probationers (€478) working in the Human Health & Social Work sector earned significantly less than all employees in the sector (€716). See Figure 2.5, Tables 2.10, 2.11, 2.12, 2.13, and PxStat Tables CPLJS11, CPLJS12, CPLJS13, & CPLJS14.