December 10, 2004: New Offender Management Figures

New figures just published illuminate the nature and scale of the probation and prison caseload in England and Wales. The Home Office figures offer real insight into the collective task of offender management. Key points in ‘Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2003’ include:

• A total of 244,490 pre-sentence reports and specific sentence reports were prepared by the National Probation Service in 2003. While this was 3 percent down on the total written in 2002, it was 18 percent more than the total in 1993.
• The number of offenders being supervised by probation Service on a community sentence rose by 37 percent between 19935 and 2003 to reach 119,890 in December 2003.
• A total of 130,190 people commenced community sentences under supervision of probation staff in 2003. This was 30 percent higher than the 1993 total.
• Those commencing Community Rehabilitation Orders (previously known as Probation Orders) made up the largest number of community sentence commencements in 2003 (46 percent of the total number of community sentences).
• Those commencing Community Punishment Orders (previously known as Community Service Orders) were the second largest group, making up 40 percent of the total.
• The total number of those on Probation Service supervision at 31st December 2003 was 195,940 (2 percent higher than 2002).
• The number of those on community sentences increased by 3 per cent, whilst those under pre- or post-release supervision increased by 1 percent.
• Reconviction rates within two years of commencing a community sentence in the first quarter of 2001 were higher for males (61 percent) than females (50 percent), and also for offenders with one or more previous convictions (67 percent) than for first time offenders (32 percent).
• The criminal history of adult prisoners in 2002 varied substantially by gender. 37 percent of all adult female offenders had no previous convictions, more than double the figure for their male counterparts (15 percent).
• 21,220 offenders were released from prison on Home Detention Curfew (HDC) in 2003, and a total of 2,720 (13 percent) were recalled to prison.
• Reconviction rates for prisoners discharged from prison varied considerably by type of offence; 2 year reconviction rates were highest for offenders originally sentenced for theft (79 percent).

These provide a snapshot of the wealth of detailed information included in this report, which can be downloaded in full here.