Reoffenders: Community Orders

(asked on 12th June 2019) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 10 April to Question 239207 on the Answer of 9 May to Question 246971, how many offenders re-offended while being the subject of a community order; and how many offences of each type were committed by those offenders in each year since 2007.


Answered by
Robert Buckland Portrait
Robert Buckland
This question was answered on 17th June 2019

We do not hold reoffending rates based on whether offenders are the subject of a community order but instead hold data based on those who have started a community order in a given period. As such, we cannot tell whether an offender is still subject to a community order at the time of their reoffence. Please see the available data in the table provided. There is persuasive evidence showing community sentences, in certain circumstances, are more effective than short custodial sentences in reducing reoffending. The MoJ study ‘The impact of short custodial sentences, community orders and suspended sentence orders on re-offending’ published in 2015 involved around 350,000 sentencing occasions over 4 years and used 130 different variables to construct matched groups of offenders and examine the effect of short sentences relative to community sentences. This study found a reduction of around 3 percentage points in proven reoffences if offenders receiving sentences of less than 12 months were to get a community order instead. This is statistically significant and equates to around 30,000 proven reoffences in total over a one-year period. This means fewer victims of crime. Unless we tackle the underlying causes of offending, we cannot protect the public from being victims of crime. Effective community orders can address offenders’ behaviour, answer their mental health and alcohol or drug misuse needs, and provide reparation for the benefit of the wider community.

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