Stating the Obvious

Having had a chance to look at the re-offending statistics from the Ministry of Justice in some detail, there seem to be no great surprises at all. Actually there is some quite good news and confirmation of the blindingly obvious, but you wouldn't have gathered that from the initial media reports. I really couldn't understand why it was at all newsworthy that 74% of males released from a prison sentence, or having completed a community order, had re-offended within 10 years. This strikes me as almost totally meaningless and I'm sure any probation officer would feel that a client that takes that long before re-offending is a result indeed!

Surely the only important indicator is the 12 month one? Here the statistics show that there is a 7% improvement in re-offending rates for those finishing community orders, as opposed to release from a short prison term. In relation to sentences where prisoners undertake the Enhanced Thinking Skills programme, there is a 6% improvement on re-offending compared to prisoners who did not undertake the course. Some might say that these differences are not that great, but at least they go some way to showing that constructive interventions can and do work.

One of the most interesting parts of the report concerns aspects of the prisoners lives and their needs. What is starkly enumerated will come as absolutely no surprise to any member of the probation service. It states:-

"Re-conviction rates are higher for prisoners who experience violence in the home, emotional, sexual or physical abuse as a child, who had been expelled or permanently excluded from school, or who had no qualifications".

Well, who'd have thought that! Other gems are that 79% of prisoners who were homeless prior to imprisonment re-offend within 12 months, compared to 47% who were not homeless. Drug usage was reported by 81% of prisoners with 71% reporting having used drugs in the year prior to custody. The figure for drug usage amongst the general male population is 13%. The highest re-conviction rate was with the 33% who reported being poly-drug users in the four weeks prior to custody. Of these, 71% were re-convicted within 12 months. 17% of offenders reported having been treated for a mental health problem in the year prior to custody.

So, as Ken Clarke prepares to launch a 'rehabilitation revolution', these statistics confirm that probation interventions do have an effect, but most importantly that our client group are indeed some of the most damaged and disadvantaged within society. But then we knew that already. What we have to do is get that message across to those who choose to believe differently.