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International News

One In Three Given Probation Convicted Again

December 24, 2012 posted by Steve Brownstein

More than one-third of offenders who received probation or community service in 2007 were convicted of a further offence within two years, the first of what is due to become an annual report on recidivism shows.

The Probation Service Recidivism Study 2007-2011 found 37.2 per cent of those who received probation or community service orders in 2007 reoffended within two years.

Of the 1,332 individuals who reoffended, 37.6 per cent were convicted for public order offences; 17.3 per cent for theft offences; 11.9 per cent for drug offences and 8.6 per cent for dangerous or negligent acts.

A further 3.5 per cent, or 47 reoffences, fell into the category of “attempts or threats to murder, assaults, harassments and related offences”.

Four individuals were later convicted for homicide offences, a category that includes dangerous driving causing death, while three were convicted for sex offences.

Data from three bodies

The study, undertaken by the Central Statistics Office, linked Probation Service, Garda Síochána and Courts Service data. It was based on offenders who received probation or community service orders in 2007 and their subsequent levels of reoffending, termed recidivism, based on their first subsequent conviction in the two years after an initial conviction.

Of the 3,576 offenders 3,086 were men and 490 women. Male offenders had a higher recidivism rate with 38 per cent reoffending within two years compared with 32 per cent of females.

Recidivism rates fell the older the age group. Among under-18s the recidivism rate was 53.6 per cent; in the 18-24 category this fell to 41.2 per cent; among 25-44-year-olds it stood at 32.9 per cent; among 45-64-year-olds the rate was 29.5 per cent; and 7.7 per cent among over-65s.

The most common reason for offenders receiving a probation or community service order was for public order offences.

This was also the category with the highest reoffending rate, with more than 50 per cent of those originally convicted for public order offences reconvicted in the same category.

More than one-third, or 37 per cent, of theft offenders committed a further theft offence while 28 per cent of drug offenders committed a further drug offence.