Longer sentences 'cut reoffending'

Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke said it was scandalous that nearly half of all offenders reoffend within a year of being released
12 April 2012

Criminals who are ordered to spend the most time behind bars are less likely to reoffend and commit fewer further offences, figures have shown.

Offenders jailed for between two and four years have lower reoffending rates than those given sentences of between one and two years, the first comparison of its kind revealed.

And criminals jailed for between one and two years also had lower reoffending rates than those jailed for less than 12 months, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures showed.

Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke said it was a "national scandal" that nearly half of all offenders reoffend within a year of being released from jail.

Reoffending rates are "unacceptably high" and "underline the urgent need for steps to counter it", he added.

"Sentences must properly punish offenders as well as address the causes of their offending so that they are made ready to go straight once their punishment has ended," said Mr Clarke.

"Prisons need to be places of hard work, not idleness, and both prison and non-custodial sentences need to do much more to properly address the serious underlying causes of crime such as drugs and mental illness."

In 2008, the latest year for which figures are available, 35.7% of criminals sentenced to between two and four years reoffended within 12 months, compared with 42.9% of those sentenced to between one and two years.

Those serving the longer sentences committed an average of 1.075 further offences after being released, compared with an average of 1.347 offences for those on the shorter sentences. Each set of criminals compared in these figures were jailed for similar offences, had a similar number of previous convictions, and were of a similar age, gender and ethnicity, officials said.

But they said it was not possible to conclude whether the differences were due to the increased time spent in prison, the increased time spent on licence after their release, or the use of offender management programmes.

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