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Publication - Statistics

Reconviction Rates in Scotland: 2018-19 Offender Cohort

Published
4 October 2021
Directorate
Justice Directorate, +1 more … Safer Communities Directorate
Topic
Law and order
ISBN
9781802014594

Analyses of trends in reconviction statistics up to the latest cohort of 2018-19.

View supporting documents Supporting documents

Table 10a: Reconviction rates and average number of reconvictions per offender, by custodial sentence length: 1997-98 to 2018-19 cohorts

1,2,3

Custodial sentence length Number of offenders Reconviction rate Average number of reconvictions per offender
3 months or less
1997-98 2,726 56.7 1.33
1998-99 2,552 59.3 1.43
1999-00 2,538 55.5 1.28
2000-01 2,395 58.1 1.31
2001-02 2,458 58.3 1.37
2002-03 2,636 61.4 1.50
2003-04 2,472 63.1 1.51
2004-05 2,563 61.5 1.44
2005-06 2,725 59.1 1.37
2006-07 3,066 60.7 1.40
2007-08 2,870 59.0 1.35
2008-09 2,360 59.6 1.38
2009-10 2,067 58.9 1.33
2010-11 1,823 61.6 1.35
2011-12 1,406 59.6 1.36
2012-13 1,406 60.5 1.39
2013-14 1,309 60.9 1.34
2014-15 1,298 60.6 1.27
2015-16 1,325 58.7 1.27
2016-17 1,156 58.5 1.26
2017-18 1,066 57.8 1.18
2018-19 967 60.9 1.22
Over 3 months to 6 months
1997-98 1,455 57.9 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 1,378 60.0 1.37
2003-04 1,348 59.8 1.33
2004-05 1,337 57.2 1.31
2005-06 1,372 56.9 1.31
2006-07 1,470 57.9 1.29
2007-08 1,450 58.0 1.34
2008-09 1,901 55.0 1.20
2009-10 1,936 54.1 1.15
2010-11 2,023 53.2 1.11
2011-12 2,334 53.3 1.19
2012-13 2,303 51.8 1.13
2013-14 2,211 54.6 1.09
2014-15 2,025 54.5 1.18
2015-16 1,978 52.6 1.08
2016-17 1,839 51.0 1.03
2017-18 1,739 48.6 1.01
2018-19 1,707 53.5 1.08
Over 6 months to 1 year
1997-98 595 35.6 0.66
1998-99 533 33.0 0.61
1999-00 540 37.4 0.71
2000-01 492 34.3 0.64
2001-02 577 40.7 0.75
2002-03 518 35.9 0.66
2003-04 563 36.4 0.72
2004-05 558 33.3 0.69
2005-06 575 35.8 0.66
2006-07 630 37.3 0.70
2007-08 771 36.7 0.67
2008-09 1,033 44.3 0.83
2009-10 1,181 42.3 0.82
2010-11 1,219 41.6 0.80
2011-12 1,251 42.8 0.81
2012-13 1,342 42.3 0.80
2013-14 1,291 43.1 0.78
2014-15 1,176 40.9 0.75
2015-16 1,219 41.2 0.79
2016-17 1,178 38.2 0.72
2017-18 1,114 40.5 0.72
2018-19 1,149 41.2 0.72
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
2001-02 552 29.9 0.50
2002-03 507 30.2 0.54
2003-04 556 30.9 0.52
2004-05 636 32.9 0.55
2005-06 552 28.6 0.48
2006-07 643 30.3 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 1,030 32.7 0.59
2012-13 1,170 33.0 0.54
2013-14 1,125 30.6 0.50
2014-15 1,070 29.9 0.48
2015-16 1,125 31.3 0.51
2016-17 1,134 31.8 0.53
2017-18 1,138 29.8 0.51
2018-19 1,115 33.0 0.50
Over 2 years to less than 4 years
1997-98 387 28.2 0.38
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
2003-04 365 27.7 0.45
2004-05 423 22.9 0.41
2005-06 397 23.2 0.38
2006-07 483 25.9 0.43
2007-08 534 22.3 0.36
2008-09 615 27.0 0.44
2009-10 623 29.2 0.48
2010-11 733 27.0 0.43
2011-12 759 27.3 0.43
2012-13 707 26.3 0.40
2013-14 660 25.6 0.39
2014-15 640 23.4 0.36
2015-16 582 25.4 0.39
2016-17 583 27.1 0.38
2017-18 582 26.8 0.37
2018-19 586 29.7 0.41
Over 4 years
1997-98 404 21.5 0.32
1998-99 484 21.5 0.28
1999-00 487 14.8 0.17
2000-01 497 15.3 0.17
2001-02 552 17.8 0.24
2002-03 572 18.0 0.23
2003-04 583 18.2 0.23
2004-05 607 16.0 0.20
2005-06 622 17.7 0.21
2006-07 620 14.0 0.16
2007-08 626 13.7 0.16
2008-09 557 14.5 0.18
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
2013-14 527 10.2 0.12
2014-15 490 13.7 0.15
2015-16 524 9.2 0.10
2016-17 506 11.1 0.13
2017-18 498 10.2 0.12
2018-19 417 7.7 0.09

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

Email: Justice_Analysts@gov.scot

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