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Details of 1-Year Custodial Re-offending

Details of 1-Year Custodial Re-offending

Online ISSN: 2811-5740
CSO statistical publication, , 11am
Statistics Under Reservation

These statistics are categorised as Under Reservation. This categorisation indicates that the quality of these statistics do not meet the standards required of official statistics published by the CSO. For further information please refer to the Statistics Under Reservation FAQs page.

To provide more timely estimates of re-offending, this chapter provides data that relate to custodial releases that took place in 2020. To provide these estimates it is necessary to only include offences that took place a year after release and where the offender has secured a court conviction resulting in reconviction within a further year. Although this method loses coverage of a proportion of re-offending incidents and resulting convictions (as we only look at one year rather than three years) it allows the analysis to come forward to reference year 2020.

Prison Re-Offending Statistics 2020 1 year

The levels of re-offending within a year of release continues to decline over time

In 2020, slightly more than four out of ten (41%) individuals released from custody re-offended within a year of being released. This was a reduction of four percentage points when compared to the same re-offending estimate for 2018 (45%). Overall, there has been a reduction in one year custodial re-offending of 13 percentage points since 2011. See Figure 3.1 and Table 3.1.

1-year re-offending indicator
201154
201250
201345
201444
201547
201649
201747
201848
201945
202041
Table 3.1 Individuals released from custody 2011 - 2020 classified by 1-year re-offending indicator

A reduction of one-year re-offending amongst 18-25 year olds between 2019 and 2020

One-year re-offending rates in young adults (18-25 year olds) declined sharply between 2019 and 2020. In 2020 six out of ten (60%) of individuals under 21 at the time of release re-offended within a year. In comparison just under seven in ten (69%) of those released in 2019 re-offended in the same period following release. There was also a smaller decline in the proportion of 21-25 year olds who re-offended within 12 months of release. In 2020, half (50%) of those released re-offended while in 2019 it was just over half (53%). See Figure 3.2 and Table 3.2.

Less than 21 years21 - 25 years26 - 30 years31 - 35 years36 - 40 years41 - 50 yearsAged 50 and over
201176645147443933
201277555145423624
201370534642393222
201472544240373426
201571585344373419
201674585447394021
201775565348423520
201870605246463426
201969534845393724
202060504744413218
Table 3.2 Individuals released from custody 2011 - 2020 classified by 1-year re-offending indicator and age group

Individuals released from Public Order related offences are most likely to be convicted of re-offending

Six out of ten individuals (60%) released from custodial sentences in 2020 in relation to Public Order re-offended within a year of their release. This rate was unchanged from the 2019 estimate for the same offence group. Individuals released from custodial sentences relating to Theft had the highest number of releases (576 out of the 2,747) with 300 or 52% of these individuals linked to a re-offence in the year following their release. In contrast, individuals released from custody for serving sentences in relation to Homicide (20%) or Sexual (13%) offences were the least likely to re-offend. See Figure 3.3 and Table 3.3.

Note: The offence types that individuals are released from custody does not always correspond to the same re-offence type for the individual. Table 3.4 of this publication provides details of one-year re-offence types.

Re-offended within 1 year
13 Public Order & Other Social Code offences60
07 Burglary & Related offences54
12 Damage to Property & to the Environment53
08 Theft & Related offences52
06 Robbery, Extortion & Hijacking offences 51
15 Offences against Government, Justice Procedures & Organisation of Crime 48
11 Weapons & Explosives offences45
03 Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences37
04 Dangerous or Negligent Acts34
14 Road & Traffic offences34
10 Controlled Drug offences24
09 Fraud, Deception & Related offences23
05 Kidnapping & Related offences20
01 Homicide & Related offences20
16 Offences not elsewhere classified13
02 Sexual offences13
Table 3.3 Individuals released from custody in 2020 classified by 1-year re-offending indicator and offence type

Individuals most likely to be convicted of re-offending by committing Public Order or Theft related offences

Of the 1,137 individuals who re-offended within a year of release in 2020, nearly half (48%) re-offended in just two offence groups - Theft (252) or Public Order related offences (290). Individuals released from custody in relation to offences linked to Homicide (4), Sexual offences (12) and Assaults (139) were also most likely to re-offend in Public Order (57) or Theft related offences (22). See Table 3.4.

Table 3.4 Individuals released from custody in 2020 classified by 1-year re-offending indicator, offence relating to release and re-offending offence type

Individuals serving custodial sentences for three to six months prior to release had the highest level of re-offending

Just over half (53%) of individuals released in 2020 who spent three to six months in custody prior to release re-offended within a year of being released. In contrast, just under one third (31%) of individuals that served custodial sentences greater than 12 months re-offended within a year following their release. See Figure 3.4 and Table 3.5.

Less than 3 months3 to 6 months6 to 9 months9 to 12 monthsGreater than 12 months
% re-offending4453464331
Table 3.5 Individuals released from custody in 2020 classified by length of custodial period prior to release and re-offending indicator

Re-offenders linked to Sexual, Robbery and Burglary related re-offences most likely to return into custody

Just over four in ten (42%) of re-offences that took place within a year of release from custody in 2020 resulted in a re-comital for the individual. Sexual offences (100%), Robbery (88%) and Burglary (72%) were the re-offence types that were most likely to receive custodial sentences for the re-offending conviction. In contrast, the lowest level of custodial re-offence sanctions was seen in offences linked to Public Order & Other Social Code offences where just under one in five (18%) of individuals received a custodial sentence for their re-offence. See Table 3.6 and Figure 3.5

Note: Custodial sanctions cover all court outcomes that indicate individuals were detained for any period of time for their re-offending offence. Non-custodial outcomes include a variety of sanctions such as Disqualification (mostly associated with driving or licence related offences), fines, probation supervision or suspended sentences that can result in custody if conditions set out by the court are not adhered to. Further details are available in the Background notes of this publication.

Custodial sanctionNon custodial sanction
01 Homicide & Related offences00
13 Public Order & Other Social Code offences1882
16 Offences not elsewhere classified1981
15 Offences against Government, Justice Procedures & Organisation of Crime 2773
10 Controlled Drug offences2971
14 Road & Traffic offences4258
09 Fraud, Deception & Related offences5050
08 Theft & Related offences5248
12 Damage to Property & to the Environment6436
04 Dangerous or Negligent Acts6535
03 Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences6733
07 Burglary & Related offences7228
11 Weapons & Explosives offences7228
06 Robbery, Extortion & Hijacking offences 8812
02 Sexual offences1000
Table 3.6 Individuals released from custody in 2020 classified by re-offence type and re-offending sanction type

One-year re-offending rates are highest in South-West and Midlands

The South-West (50%) and Midland (49%) regions had the highest levels of one-year re-offending across Ireland in 2020, and Westmeath (60%) was the county with highest individual county re-offending rate. Donegal, Sligo and Wexford (23%) had the lowest recorded county re-offending rates which are calculated by using the location that individuals recorded living at the time of their release. See Map 3.1 and Table 3.7.

Table 3.7 Individuals released from custody classified by 1-year re-offending indicator and county, 2020