Reconviction rates in Scotland: 2015-2016 offender cohort

Trends in reconviction statistics up to the latest cohort of 2015-2016.


Table 9: Reconviction rates and average number of reconvictions per offender, by custodial sentence length: 1997-98 to 2015-16 cohorts1,2,3

Custodial sentence length Number of offenders Reconviction rate Average number of reconvictions per offender
3 months or less
1997-98 2,724 56.7 1.33
1998-99 2,554 59.3 1.42
1999-00 2,539 55.5 1.27
2000-01 2,394 58.1 1.31
2001-02 2,462 58.2 1.37
2002-03 2,633 61.3 1.49
2003-04 2,471 63.1 1.51
2004-05 2,563 61.5 1.44
2005-06 2,725 59.2 1.37
2006-07 3,066 60.7 1.40
2007-08 2,870 59.0 1.35
2008-09 2,359 59.6 1.38
2009-10 2,067 58.9 1.32
2010-11 1,824 61.7 1.35
2011-12 1,406 59.7 1.36
2012-13 1,406 60.5 1.39
2013-14 1,308 60.9 1.34
2014-15 1,299 60.5 1.26
2015-16 1,324 58.5 1.26
Over 3 months to 6 months
1997-98 1,459 58.0 1.22
1998-99 1,403 57.9 1.31
1999-00 1,331 56.7 1.23
2000-01 1,325 58.0 1.24
2001-02 1,431 57.2 1.33
2002-03 1,381 60.1 1.37
2003-04 1,347 59.8 1.33
2004-05 1,338 57.3 1.31
2005-06 1,371 56.9 1.31
2006-07 1,470 58.0 1.29
2007-08 1,452 57.9 1.34
2008-09 1,902 55.0 1.20
2009-10 1,936 54.1 1.15
2010-11 2,024 53.2 1.11
2011-12 2,333 53.3 1.19
2012-13 2,304 51.8 1.13
2013-14 2,211 54.6 1.09
2014-15 2,025 54.5 1.17
2015-16 1,978 52.2 1.07
Over 6 months to 1 year
1997-98 596 35.6 0.65
1998-99 533 33.0 0.61
1999-00 540 37.4 0.71
2000-01 492 34.3 0.64
2001-02 578 40.7 0.74
2002-03 517 36.0 0.67
2003-04 563 36.4 0.72
2004-05 558 33.3 0.69
2005-06 575 36.0 0.67
2006-07 630 37.3 0.70
2007-08 772 36.7 0.67
2008-09 1,032 44.4 0.84
2009-10 1,181 42.4 0.82
2010-11 1,217 41.6 0.80
2011-12 1,251 42.8 0.81
2012-13 1,343 42.4 0.80
2013-14 1,291 43.1 0.78
2014-15 1,176 40.9 0.75
2015-16 1,221 40.9 0.78
Over 1 year to 2 years
1997-98 566 30.4 0.52
1998-99 489 33.1 0.55
1999-00 511 29.2 0.48
2000-01 495 32.3 0.54
2001-02 553 30.0 0.50
2002-03 506 30.0 0.53
2003-04 558 31.2 0.52
2004-05 636 32.9 0.55
2005-06 551 28.7 0.48
2006-07 643 30.2 0.54
2007-08 804 35.2 0.59
2008-09 944 34.2 0.53
2009-10 1,072 34.4 0.60
2010-11 1,026 32.0 0.53
2011-12 1,029 32.8 0.59
2012-13 1,170 33.0 0.54
2013-14 1,125 30.6 0.50
2014-15 1,070 29.8 0.48
2015-16 1,123 31.1 0.51
Over 2 years to less than 4 years
1997-98 371 27.5 0.37
1998-99 359 25.6 0.41
1999-00 352 21.9 0.32
2000-01 366 20.8 0.30
2001-02 378 27.5 0.44
2002-03 396 27.0 0.46
2003-04 364 27.7 0.46
2004-05 423 22.9 0.41
2005-06 397 23.2 0.38
2006-07 483 25.9 0.43
2007-08 536 22.2 0.35
2008-09 613 27.1 0.45
2009-10 622 29.3 0.48
2010-11 732 27.0 0.43
2011-12 759 27.3 0.43
2012-13 706 26.3 0.40
2013-14 660 25.6 0.39
2014-15 640 23.4 0.36
2015-16 581 24.8 0.38
Over 4 years
1997-98 402 21.6 0.31
1998-99 483 20.7 0.27
1999-00 471 14.4 0.17
2000-01 501 15.6 0.17
2001-02 547 17.4 0.23
2002-03 570 17.9 0.23
2003-04 582 18.2 0.23
2004-05 609 15.9 0.20
2005-06 621 17.7 0.21
2006-07 621 14.0 0.16
2007-08 627 13.7 0.16
2008-09 555 15.0 0.19
2009-10 556 16.7 0.18
2010-11 469 13.2 0.16
2011-12 533 13.7 0.16
2012-13 506 10.5 0.12
2013-14 528 10.2 0.12
2014-15 491 13.6 0.15
2015-16 524 9.2 0.10

1. This table includes imprisonment, admission to young offenders institution, Extended Sentences (from 2005-06), Supervised Release Orders (from 2006-07) and Orders for Lifelong Restriction (from 2010-11).

2. Figures for previous cohorts may differ from previously published figures as updated information is fed into the Scottish Offenders Index.

3. Caution is needed when comparing reconvictions between different sentence lengths. The length of a sentence may affect the reconviction rates, but different lengths of sentence are given for different types of offending behaviour, which are themselves also likely to affect reconviction rates.

Contact

Andrew Morgan

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