Following the publication of the fifth Review of the Quality of Crime Statistics in October 2023, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has lifted the 'Under Reservation' categorisation around Recorded Crime Statistics. This is possible because An Garda Síochána have introduced a range of quality measures over the last number of years which have resulted in sustained improvement in the quality of the underlying crime data. These changes give a level of assurance to users that they can rely on Recorded Crime Statistics.
For further information see our Lifting of Under Reservation categorisation for Recorded Crime Statistics FAQ page.
This chapter outlines some more details about individuals who re-offended within three years of release from custody, and who secured a court conviction within a further two years.
Figure 2.1 below shows the time periods and process of establishing these re-offending indicators for the prison re-offending of individuals released in 2020 (three-year re-offending). The three-year re-offending period refers to individuals released in 2020. The time period for a re-offence to occur is three-years (2020 to 2023) and a further two-years are 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.
Although there was a fall of more than 40% in the total number of young adults released from custodial sentences during 2020 when compared to 2019, significant levels of convicted re-offending remained prevalent. More than three-quarters (77%) of individuals aged less than 21 released from custody in 2020 re-offended within three years of release. In contrast, just one quarter (26%) of individuals aged 51 years and over re-offended over the same period (See Figure 2.2 and Table 2.1).
In 2020, the highest level of re-offending occurred by individuals released from sentences related to property crime. Eight out of ten (78%) of individuals released from Robbery related offences re-offended within three years of their release and individuals serving sentences related to Burglary (76%) and Theft (72%) also showed prominent levels of recidivism. In the remaining categories containing the highest numbers of releases the re-offending rates were:
(See Figure 2.3 and Table 2.2).
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.
Nearly half (144 out of 322) of individuals released from custody in 2023 having served sentences related to Theft re-offended in the same offence type. However, one-quarter (398 out of 1,593) of all the individuals who re-offended within three years of release in 2020 re-offended in Public Order related offences. This was an increase from 2019 when one-fifth (470 out of 2,296) re-offended in this re-offence category (See Table 2.3).
Slightly more females (60%) than males (58%) re-offended within three years of release from custody in 2020, although just 259 out of the total 2,744 individuals that were released in 2020 (10%) were female (See Figure 2.4 and Table 2.4).
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