§ Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 11 January,Official Report, column 138, what are the current reconviction rates for (a) adult males, (b) adult females, (c) young adult males, (d) young adult females, (e) juvenile males and (f) juvenile females commencing probation orders and community service orders and for persons discharged from custodial sentences.
§ Mr. MacleanThe information is as follows:
681W
Percentage of offenders convicted 1 within a two-year period following commencement of an order in 1987–90 or discharged in 1987–90 from a custodial sentence by sex and age at commencement or discharge Males Females All Aged under 172—Juveniles Community service order 78 361 77 Custodial sentence 85 58 85 Aged 17 to 20—young adults Probation order 70 45 66 Community service order 65 45 65 Custodial sentence 71 56 70 Aged 21 and over—adults Probation order 50 36 46 Community service order 47 42 47 Custodial sentence 47 36 47 All ages Probation order 58 39 54 Community service order 56 44 56 Custodial sentence 55 40 54 1 Reconvicted of a serious offence as defined by the standard list in appendices 4 and 5 of "Criminal Statistics England and Wales 1993" 2 Until the Criminal Justice Act was implemented on 1 October 1992 it was not possible to sentence an offender aged under 17 to a probation order. Those aged under 17 who were sentenced to a community service order were all aged 16. 3 Based on a sample of only 23 offenders.
Comparisons between different types of sentence are affected by differences in the age, sex, previous convictions and other characteristics of offenders receiving the sentences, as described in the forthcoming Home Office Research Study, "Explaining reconviction rates: a critical analysis".