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The Prison Re-offending Statistics publication provides information on the level of recorded re-offending by individuals released from custodial or Fine Sentence sanctions with the Irish Prison Service. Fine sentences are conditional custodial sentences in which custody is avoided when a fine is paid to the court by the convicted offender. The re-offending rates are calculated as the percentage of individuals who have been convicted of any crime incident during the reference period after their release. This publication primarily provides re-offending estimates of individuals who were released from custody in 2016 (three year re-offending). In addition, more timely estimates for individuals released in 2019 (one year re-offending) are provided. For the three year re-offending estimates, a period of three years with a further two years for conviction after release is used to measure a re-offending incident and for the statistics on one year re-offending, a period of one year after release with a further year for conviction is used as the re-offending period. In addition to updates to existing re-offending estimates, this publication also provides new estimates that show the levels of re-offending that exist in each county.
The longer measure of re-offending that includes any re-offences which occurred within three years following release indicates the re-offending rate for 2016 (62.3%) remained broadly in line with 2015 (61.7%) and 2014 (60%). See Table 1.1 and Figure 1.1.
Statistics in respect of 3-year custodial re-offending are presented in further detail in Chapter 3:
| 3-year re-offending indicator | |
| 2011 | 67.8 |
| 2012 | 65.1 |
| 2013 | 59.5 |
| 2014 | 60 |
| 2015 | 61.7 |
| 2016 | 62.3 |
Measuring re-offending rates over a shorter period following release allows re-offending trends to be created for more recent release years. The most up to date estimate (for individuals released in 2019) indicates that 44.6% re-offended in the year following their release, almost three percentage points less than 2018 (47.5%). Using the shorter measurement period also means that on average one fifth of the re-offences that would have been included when measuring re-offending over the longer (three year) period are excluded. See Table 1.2 and Figure 1.2.
Statistics in respect of 1-year custodial re-offending are presented in further detail in Chapter 4:
| 1-year re-offending indicator | 3-year re-offending indicator | |
| 2011 | 54.1 | 67.8 |
| 2012 | 49.5 | 65.1 |
| 2013 | 45.2 | 59.5 |
| 2014 | 44.4 | 60.1 |
| 2015 | 47.3 | 61.8 |
| 2016 | 48.4 | |
| 2017 | 47.3 | |
| 2018 | 47.5 | |
| 2019 | 44.6 |
In general, the South-West (52.4%) and Mid-West (49.3%) regions containing Cork. Kerry, Clare, Tipperary and Limerick had the highest levels of one year re-offending across Ireland in 2019 although Longford (62.2%) was the county with highest individual county re-offending rate. See Table 1.3 and Map 1.1.
"Fine sentence re-offending" estimates the proportion of persons linked to re-offending having received a fine sentence by court proceedings following a guilty conviction. As most fine sentences are resolved without an initial custodial sentence (91% of fine sentences in 2018), and do not involve a period of detention in prison, the period to a re-offence is calculated from the court outcome date. Further detail is available in the Background Notes.
Overall, 46.1% of individuals issued with fine sentences during 2019 re-offended within a year of receiving the order. This was an increase of three percentage points on the same estimate for 2018. See Table 1.4 and Figure 1.3.
Statistics in respect of fine sentence re-offending are presented in further detail in Chapter 5:
| 1-year re-offending indicator | 3-year re-offending indicator | |
| 2011 | 39.7 | 55.7 |
| 2012 | 37.6 | 54.8 |
| 2013 | 34.9 | 49 |
| 2014 | 33.3 | 48.3 |
| 2015 | 35.2 | 51.4 |
| 2016 | 36.8 | |
| 2017 | 39.6 | |
| 2018 | 43 | |
| 2019 | 46.1 |
