Reconviction rates in Scotland: 2013-2014 offender cohort

Annex D: Characteristics of offenders with an index disposal of a Community Payback Order or a legacy community order between 2009-10 and 2013-14

D1 This section details how different characteristics of offenders with an index disposal of a Community Payback Order ( CPO) or a legacy community order (Community Service Orders ( CSO) and Probation Orders ( PO)) have changed during the transition period from the legacy orders to CPOs. CPOs were introduced on 1 ^st February 2011 and legacy orders are now only given for offences committed prior to 1 ^st February 2011. The characteristics for offenders given legacy orders in 2009-10, prior to the transition period, are also given for comparison.

D2 As detailed below, during the transition period between 2010-11 and up to the most recent cohort of 2013-14, the legacy community orders and CPOs have both shown increased percentages of the types of offenders that generally have a lower likelihood of being reconvicted, i.e. more females, more older offenders, and more offenders with no previous convictions. This may explain, in part, why the reconviction rates of both disposal types decreased during the transition period. The legacy community orders, in particular, have shown large increases in the proportion of these types of offenders, which may be why the reconviction rates of the legacy orders were very low in 2013-14.

Number of previous convictions

D3 Offenders with no, or very few, previous convictions tend to have lower reconviction rates than offenders with more previous convictions (see Table 10).

D4 For CPO index disposals, the percentage of offenders with no previous convictions increased by 2.9 percentage points from 22.4 per cent of offenders in 2010-11 to 25.3 per cent of offenders in 2013-14, and in the same period the percentage of offenders with over 10 previous convictions decreased by 0.5 percentage points from 20.1 per cent of offenders to 19.6 per cent ( Table D1).

D5 Legacy community order index disposals showed a large increase in the percentage of offenders with no previous convictions and a large decrease in the percentage of offenders with more than 10 previous conviction from 2009-10 (prior to the introduction of the CPOs) to 2013-14. The percentage of offenders with no previous convictions increased by 40.8 percentage points from 27.5 per cent in 2009-10 to 68.3 per cent in 2013-14, and the percentage of offenders with more than 10 previous convictions decreased by 15.5 percentage points from 16 per cent in 2009-10 to 0.5 per cent in 2013-14 ( Table D1).

D6 In 2013-14, which is nearing the end of the transition period, more offenders with a CPO index disposal have over 10 previous convictions than offenders with a legacy order index disposal did in 2009-10. In 2013-14, 19.6 per cent of offenders with a CPO index disposal had more than 10 previous convictions, compared to 16 per cent of offenders with a legacy order index disposal in 2009-10. Additionally, a smaller percentage of offenders with a CPO index disposal in 2013-14 had no previous convictions (25.3 per cent), compared to those with legacy orders in 2009-10 (27.5 per cent).

Table D1 Percentage of offenders by number of previous convictions within each financial year for index disposals of legacy community orders and CPOs

Gender

D7 Females generally have lower reconviction rates than males ( Table 2).

D8 The CPO index disposals had a slight increase in the percentage of females, by 2.4 percentage points, from 14.4 per cent in 2010-11 to 16.8 per cent in 2013-14 ( Annex Table D2).

D9 Legacy community order index disposals had an increase in the percentage of females from 18.8 in 2009-10 prior to the introduction of the CPOs, to 45.0 per cent in 2013-14, an increase of 26.2 percentage points ( Annex Table D2).

D10 In 2013-14, which is nearing the end of the transition period, a smaller percentage of females have a CPO index disposal than offenders with a legacy orders index disposal did 2009-10 prior to the transition. In 2013-14, 16.8 per cent of offenders with a CPO index disposal were female, compared to 18.8 per cent of offenders with a legacy order disposal in 2009-10.

Table D2 Percentages of offenders by gender within each financial year for index disposals of legacy community orders and CPOs.

Age

D11 Younger offenders generally have higher reconviction rates than older offenders ( Table 3).

D12 CPO index disposals had a decrease in the percentage of offenders under the age of 21, from 25.3 per cent in 2010-11 to 16 per cent in 2013-14, a decrease of 9.3 percentage points. The percentage of offenders in the other age groups, with the exception of those aged between 21 and 25, showed a slight increase in the same period ( Annex Table D3).

D13 Legacy community orders index disposals had a large decrease in the percentage of offenders under the age of 21 from 24.5 in 2009-10, to 5.9 per cent in 2013-14, a decrease of 18.6 percentage points. In the same period the percentage of offenders over 40 increased 42.4 percentage points from 17.5 per cent to 59.9 per cent ( Annex Table D3).

Table D3 Percentages of offenders by age within each financial year for index disposals of legacy community orders and CPOs.