Reconviction Rates in Scotland: 2022 to 2023 Offender Cohort

Key points

For the 2022 to 2023 offender cohort:

• 26.1% were reconvicted within 12 months of release from custody or being given a non-custodial sentence
• the reconviction rate decreased from 27.3% for the 2021 to 2022 cohort
• offenders were reconvicted an average of 0.44 times per offender, down from 0.46 times for the 2021 to 2022 cohort
• the reconviction rate was 5.7 percentage points lower than in 1997 to 1998 when it was 31.8%
• the average number of reconvictions per offender decreased by 29% from 0.62 in 1997 to 1998
• males had a reconviction rate of 26.6% compared to 23.7% for females
• younger people had higher reconviction rates than older people, with 31.9% of offenders aged under 21 being reconvicted, compared with 20.2% over 40
• offenders convicted of a crime of dishonesty had a reconviction rate of 42.8%, higher than any other crime group
• offenders convicted of sexual offences had the lowest reconviction rate at 13.3%
• 42.5% of those released from custody were reconvicted within a year
• 28.6% of those given a Community Payback Order (the most common community sentence) were reconvicted within a year
• offenders with a custodial sentence of three months or fewer had a reconviction rate of 60.3% compared with 10% for those with a sentence over four years