§ Sir Ivan LawrenceTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the current reconviction rates for persons commencing probation orders and community service orders and for persons discharged from custodial sentences.
§ Mr. HowardThe information is as follows:
Percentage of offenders reconvicted 1 within a two-year period following commencement of an order in 1987–90 or discharged in 1987–90 from a custodial sentence Percentage Probation order 54 Community service order 56 Custodial sentence 54 1 Reconvicted of a serious offence as defined by the standard list in appendix 4 of Criminal Statistics England and Wales 1993. Comparisons between different types of sentence are affected by differences in the age, sex, previous convictions and other characteristics of the offenders receiving the sentences, as described in the forthcoming Home Office Research Study, "Explaining reconviction rates: a critical analysis".