Following the publication of the fifth Review of the Quality of Crime Statistics in October 2023, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has lifted the 'Under Reservation' categorisation around Recorded Crime Statistics. This is possible because An Garda Síochána have introduced a range of quality measures over the last number of years which have resulted in sustained improvement in the quality of the underlying crime data. These changes give a level of assurance to users that they can rely on Recorded Crime Statistics.
For further information see our Lifting of Under Reservation categorisation for Recorded Crime Statistics FAQ page.
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 (90% in 2021), 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.
Figure 4.1 below shows the time periods and process of establishing these re-offending indicators for the prison re-offending of persons released in 2021 (one-year re-offending). The one-year re-offending period relates to individuals released or fine sentenced in 2021. The time period for a re-offence to occur is one-year (2022) and a further year is left for court decisions (convictions/acquittals) to take place.
Just 213 individuals in total were part of fine sentence sanctions managed by the Irish Prison Service in 2021, a fall from 766 in 2019. In total, less than half (45%) of individuals that received fine sentences in 2021 re-offended within a year of receiving the sanction. Individuals aged between 41 to 50 (53%) had the highest likelihood to re-offend while individuals aged under 21 (23%) had the lowest re-offending rate of the other age groups measured. See Figure 4.2 and Table 4.1.
Of the 38 fine sentences in 2021 that related to females (18% of all cases), 50% re-offended within a year of their sanction. In contrast 43% of the 175 males who also received fine sentences during 2021 re-offended within a year of receiving their court sanction. See Figure 4.3 and Table 4.2.
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