Prison Re-offending Statistics 2011 - 2018

This chapter describes the re-offending characteristics of persons who received a fine sentence sanction from a court for their offence during the reference year. Fine sentences are court decisions that order persons to pay a fine or alternatively face a period in custody. As most fine sentences are resolved without a custodial sentence (91% in 2018), and do not involve a significant period of detention in prison if a custodial sentence is imposed, the time period to a re-offence is calculated from the court outcome date. Further detail is available in the Background Notes.

In 2018 there was a significant drop in the number of Fine sentence related committals than with previous years. Just 446 Fine sentences were presented to the prison service in 2018 compared to 2,197 cases in 2017 and 7,889 from 2016. The decrease is likely attributed to an increase in use of Fines Act (2010) which provides more flexibility and options for an individual to pay a fine and avoid custodial related sanctions related to non-compliance (See Table 8.1 Background Notes).

In total, 179 (43%) of the 416 individuals that received Fine sentences in 2018 re-offended within a year of receiving the sanction. See Table 5.1 and Figure 5.1.

The level of re-offending from individuals who received Fine sentences in 2018 is closely related to age. Overall, 60% of Under 21-year olds re-offended within a year. In contrast 25% of Over 50’s re-offended within a year of receiving a fine sentence. See Table 5.1 and Figure 5.1.

Of the 96 Fine sentences in 2018 that related to females (23% of all cases), 37.5% re-offended within a year of their sanction. In contrast 44.7% of the 320 males who also received Fine Sentences during 2018 re-offended within a year of receiving their court sanction. See Table 5.2 and Figure 5.1.