Prison Re-offending Statistics 2022

To provide more timely estimates of re-offending, this chapter provides data that relate to custodial releases that took place in 2022. 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 2022.

Figure 3.1 below shows the time periods and process of establishing these re-offending indicators for the prison re-offending of individuals released in 2022 (one-year re-offending). The one-year re-offending period relates to individuals released in 2022. The time period for a re-offence to occur is one-year (2023) and a further year is left for court decisions (convictions/acquittals) to take place.

Note: Fine sentences are conditional custodial sentences in which custody is avoided when a fine is paid to the court by the convicted offender.

There continues to be a slight rise in the level of 1-year re-offending following release in 2022

In 2022, more than four out of ten (44%) individuals released from custody re-offended within a year of being released. This was a slight increase of two percentage points when compared with the same re-offending estimate for 2021 (42%). Overall, there has been a reduction in one year custodial re-offending of 10 percentage points since 2011 (See Figure 3.2 and Table 3.1).

An increase of one-year re-offending amongst 18-25 year olds between 2021 and 2022

One-year re-offending rates in young adults (18-25 year olds) rose sharply between 2021 and 2022. In 2022 just under two-thirds (63%) of individuals aged under 21 at the time of release re-offended within a year. In comparison, more than half (54%) of individuals in the same age category that were released in 2021 re-offended within a year. There was a slightly smaller increase in the proportion of 21-25 year olds who re-offended within 12 months of release between 2021 and 2022. In 2022, over half (53%) of those released re-offended while in 2021 it was just under half (48%) (See Figure 3.3 and Table 3.2).

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

More than two-thirds of individuals (68%) released from custodial sentences in 2022 in relation to Public Order related offences re-offended within a year of their release. Individuals released from custodial sentences relating to Theft had the highest number of releases (550 out of the 2,895) with 344 or 63% 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 (10%) offences were the least likely to re-offend (See Figure 3.4 and Table 3.3).

Note: The offence type relating to the custodial period that individuals are released from does not always correspond to the same re-offence type for the individual. Table 2.3 of this release provides details of three year re-offence types.

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

Of the 1,272 individuals who re-offended within a year of release in 2022, half (50%) re-offended in just two offence groups - Theft (296) or Public Order related offences (337). Individuals released from custody in relation to offences linked to Homicide (5), Sexual offences (16), and Assaults (168) were also most likely to re-offend in Public Order (60), Theft (27), or Drug related (26) offences (See Table 3.3 & Table 3.4).

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

Six in ten (60%) of individuals released in 2022, who spent three to six months in custody prior to release re-offended within a year of being released. In contrast, one-third (33%) of individuals that served custodial sentences greater than 12 months re-offended within a year following their release (See Figure 3.5 and Table 3.5).

Re-offenders linked to Kidnapping or Robbery related re-offences most likely to return into custody

One-quarter (25%) of re-offences that took place within a year of release from custody in 2022 resulted in a re-comital for the individual. Kidnapping (67%), Robbery (54%), and Burglary (36%) related offences 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 Controlled Drug and Road and Traffic offences where under one in five (15%) individuals received a custodial sentence for their re-offence (See Figure 3.6 and Table 3.6).

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 release.

One-year re-offending rates were highest in Mid-West region

The Mid-West (52%) region had the highest levels of one-year re-offending across Ireland in 2022, and Kilkenny (63%) was the county with highest individual county re-offending rate. Donegal (12%), Cavan (23%), and Wexford (25%) 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).