Half of those released from prison in 2020 re-offended, CSO finds

Over half of those released from prison during 2020 were convicted of re-offending within three years of release, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Over three-quarters of adults aged less than 21 re-offended within three years of being released in 2020, while 26% of those aged 51 or over re-offended in the same period.

When it came to the most likely to re-offend, people with a custodial sentence related to robbery were the most likely to be convicted of a re-offence within three years of being released.

The CSO say that more than four in ten of those who were released from custodial sentences in 2023 were convicted of re-offending within one year of being released. Sixty-five per cent of those re-offences that took place within a year of release during 2023 were for theft, public order or drug-related offences.

Felix Coleman, Statistician in the Crime and Criminal Justice Division, said: “Today’s publication provides annual estimates of the re-offending rates for individuals released from custody up to and including 2023. Additional insights are also provided in relation to the age, sex, offence, and re-offence types of those who re-offended. The most recent reference year available for statistics relating to one-year re-offending is 2023 because a minimum of two years is needed to establish a re-offending rate: one year for potential re-offences to take place, and one further year for court conviction proceedings to be completed. It is important to note that re-offending offence types do not always correspond to the same offence that individuals were initially imprisoned for.

“Overall, the most recent estimates for 2023 covering one-year re-offending estimates indicate re-convictions remained relatively stable (42%) when compared with the 2022 rates (44%). The longer-term re-offending rate measuring re-offending three years following release in 2020 (58%) showed a 4 percentage point decrease in the levels of re-offending when compared with 2018 (62%).”