Press Statement

Preasráiteas

05 August 2020

Go to release: Prison Re-offending Statistics 2011 - 2017

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (05 August 2020) published the results of its most recent estimates of prison re-offending.

Commenting on the release, Felix Coleman, Statistician, said: ‘Prison re-offending estimates are calculated using data provided by the Irish Prisons Service and An Garda Síochána's PULSE reporting system. This publication introduces greater clarity in analysis of prisoner re-offending in Ireland by providing separate data on re-offending rates for prisoners released from custody, and for those who receive what is known as a “Fine sentence” (persons who receive a fine following a court appearance, and who may serve a custodial sentence if the fine is not paid). Further details can be found in this Technical Note. This publication also introduces a shorter time period over which to measure re-offending (one-year rate) to aid with a more timely understanding of re-offending in Ireland.

In 2014, 55% of prisoners released from custody were linked to a re-offending incident within three years of their release. The data also indicates that younger age groups of released prisoners are much more likely to re-offend, with almost 80% of released prisoners aged less than 21 at the time of entering prison re-offending withing three years of release. In contrast, just 29.5% of prisoners who were over 50 years old re-offended within three years of release.

Re-offending rates are falling over time whether one looks at three year or one year windows for re-offending following release from custody. A little more than 40% of prisoners released in 2017 re-offended within one year of release, compared to just over 46% of prisoners released in 2011 who re-offended within one year of release.

There is a small difference in re-offending rates between males and females. Although the vast majority of released prisoners in 2014 were male (93%), slightly more females re-offended within three years (58.3%) than males (55%).

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