HC Deb 24 July 2002 vol 389 cc1454-5W
Mr. Gummer

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of convicted paedophile sex offenders re-offended after release from prison in each of the last 10 years. [69976]

Mr. Hilary Benn

Re-offending rates are not normally measured as they rely on the self-reporting of offending by offenders. Such an approach can lead to questions over the reliability of data based on individuals' recollection and willingness to impart their offending behaviour to an official source.

However two year reconviction rates for persons discharged from prison after serving a sentence for a sexual offence are collected and published annually in Prison Statistics, copies of which are available in the Library.