Circumstances of People Linked to Justice Sanctions 2015-2021

Introduction

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has developed a statistical profile to describe the earnings of persons who have received two types of justice sanctions, and are active in the labour market. Similar to the wider population, not all persons linked to sanctions such as probation or prison are actively working. This chapter provides a comparison of persons who either received a probation order or who were released from prison in 2018, and are active in the labour market, with earnings estimates of the wider population who are also in the labour market.

In this analysis, the characteristics of persons who received either a probation order or who were released from prison in 2018 have been matched to data of their earnings (as employees) provided to the CSO by the Revenue Commissioners from the years 2015 until 2021. Earnings data on those persons who are self-employed are not included in this analysis. See Background Notes for more information. The matching years were selected to provide indicators for the three years prior to and three years after the justice sanction period issued by the courts. This allows the statistical analysis to chart the earnings dynamics of those who have received justice sanctions over time. The linkage and analysis were undertaken by the CSO for statistical purposes in line with the Statistics Act, 1993 and the CSO Data Protocol.

Earnings estimate calculation

The earnings estimate for the following statistics are calculated using the individual’s gross earnings data that is paid by an employer (before deduction of tax, PRSI and superannuation).

The tables present median earnings statistics and are based on administrative data sources. The primary data source is the Revenue Commissioner’s employee tax data. To compare the earnings data of those linked to justice sanctions with existing population estimates for earnings as employees, the following exclusions have been applied:

• Earnings less than €500 as an employee during a tax reference year
• Earners who worked for less than 2 reference weeks during the tax reference year or who had extremely high earnings (greater than €15,000 per week)
• Secondary employments less than €4,000 per annum
• Employment activity in economic sectors of the economy that correspond to Agriculture, household employment and extraterritorial bodies (Sectors A, T and U) have also been excluded from the analysis to keep a consistent comparison with existing earnings publication methodology.

Further details of the methodology can be found in the Background Notes of this publication and in the CSO’s current publication using equivalent earnings estimates, Earnings Analysis using Administrative Data Sources.

Persons released from prison sentences in 2018 and living in the Dublin region earned €507 a week

The average earnings of former prisoners or probationers varied depending on the region where they live. In the Midland region persons who received probation orders in 2018 and who were active in the employment market earned an average of €584 a week while those living in the South-East earned an average of €461. The largest difference in earnings between those linked to either prison or probation and the overall population of employees was found in Dublin. In this region former prisoners (€507) earned on average 25% (€171) a week less than the overall population of employees (€678) See Figure 2.1 and Table 2.1.

Former prisoners aged over 50 experienced the most significant drop in earnings pre and post prison

In 2017, a year prior to release, former prisoners over 50 years old earned €533 euro a week. In contrast, in 2019 a year after release they earned an average of €502 a week, €31 a week less (note that prisoners aged over 50 years old account for only 2% of the prison population). Older aged former probationers (over 50’s) earnings also fell over the same period from €424 in 2017 (pre-probation) to an average of €385 by 2019 (after probation). The earnings of younger persons linked to prison release or probation tended to be less affected by their time in prison or under probation. The weekly earnings of former prisoners or probationers aged under thirty continued to rise over the same period that the older age groups earnings declined. For example, the weekly pay of persons aged 21-26 who received probation orders in 2018 increased from €350 in 2017 to €396 in 2019. See Figure 2.2 and Tables 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4.

The weekly earnings of females released from prison (pre and post prison) declined more than males

In 2019, the year after being released from a prison, females earned on average €226 per week, €54 less than the average weekly pay that the same group received in 2017 (note that females account for 8% of the prison population). In contrast, male prisoners who were released in 2018 also saw their pay increase from €405 per week in 2017 to €455 per week in 2019. Females linked to probation in 2018 also had lower weekly earnings than males. In 2021, three years after probation females earned €343 per week while males who also received a probation order in 2018 earned €520 a week. See Figure 2.3 and Tables 2.5 and 2.6.

Former prisoners or probationers who re-offend earn less than those who don’t re-offend

Former prisoners and former probationers from 2018 who went onto re-offend within a year had lower weekly earnings than non-re-offenders. In 2018, former probationers that went on to commit a re-offence within a year earned €368 per week. In contrast, former probationers who did not re-offend within a year earned on average €434 a week in 2018. Former prisoners released in 2018 who re-offended within a year (€414 per week) also tended to receive lower pay from earnings than those who did not re-offend (€436 per week). See Figure 2.4 and Tables 2.7 and 2.8.

Accommodation, Food and Retail sectors of the economy provided former prisoners or probationers the highest relative weekly pay compared to all persons

In 2021, three years after receiving a probation order, persons who worked in the Accommodation and Food (€363 a week) or Wholesale and Retail sector (€476 a week) of the economy received a greater weekly pay compared to the average for all persons working in these sectors (€347 and €459 per week respectively). In contrast, former prisoners (€226) or probationers (€226) working in the Human Health and Social Work sector earned just over a third (35%) of the average for all persons in the sector (€654). See Figure 2.5 and Tables 2.9, 2.10, 2.11 and 2.12.