Scottish Government

Reconviction rates

Associated Targets

A 2 percentage point reduction in overall reconviction rates by 2011.

Brief Description

The percentage of those given a non-custodial sentence or discharged from custody in a given year who are reconvicted within two years.

Strategic Objective(s) to Which Indicator Relates

This indicator informs progress in relation to:

Safer and Stronger; Wealthier and Fairer; Smarter

More Detailed Definitions

Definitions of Keywords

Reconviction rate: Percentage of those given a non-custodial sentence or discharged from custody in a given year who are reconvicted of at least one other offence within two years.

Non-custodial sentences: These include Community Sentence Orders, Supervised Attendance Orders, Probation, Drug Treatment and Testing Orders, Restriction of Liberty Orders and monetary penalties. Two year follow up period begins at date of sentence.

Discharged from custody: Two year follow up period begins at date of release.

Index disposal - the type of sentence imposed for the original conviction.

Evidence Source

The Scottish Offenders Index (SOI). The SOI covers all convictions since the start of 1989 in Scottish courts for crimes included in Groups 1-5 of the Scottish Government's classification of crimes and offences (crimes of violence, indecency, dishonesty, fire-raising and drugs offences) or the offences of minor assault, breach of the peace, racially aggravated harassment or conduct, miscellaneous firearms offences and social security offences.

Baseline and Past Trends

The 2004-05 cohort of offenders, of which 44.6% were reconvicted within two years, will be taken as the baseline.

Methodology for Data Source

The percentage of those persons given a non-custodial sentence or discharged from custody who are reconvicted within two years is a simple count based on data in the Scottish Offenders Index.

Data Ownership and Quality Assurance

The Reconvictions of Offenders Discharged from Custody or Given Non-Custodial Sentences Statistical Bulletin is an annual National Statistics Publication for Scotland.

Publication of Data

The data is published in the following sources:

Reconvictions of Offenders Discharged from Custody or Given Non-Custodial Sentences Statistical Bulletin

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/PubReconvictions

High Level Summary of Statistics

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/About/HighLevelTrends

Publication schedule:

Methodology for Recent Change Arrow on Scotland

Any difference within +/- 1 percentage points of previous year's figure suggests that the position is more likely to be maintaining than showing any change. A decrease of 1 percentage points or more suggests the position is improving; whereas an increase of 1 percentage points or more suggests the position is worsening.