Majority of repeat offenders avoid prison sentences

The majority of offenders with multiple convictions are unlikely to face prison sentences, figures suggest.

A report from the Centre for Crime Prevention show that there is a very high chance of criminals in England and Wales avoiding prison despite committing a string of previous offences.

Each time they appear in court, the typical repeat offender is very unlikely to go to prison – 70 per cent of those charged with their tenth offence avoided prison, as did 56 per cent of those who committed between 80 and 99 previous offences, the report says.

Only those with previous offences numbering in the hundreds were likely to go to prison; 55,000 were not jailed after 15 or more previous convictions and less than 29,000 offenders with 25 or more previous offences avoided prison in 2012.

However, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson cautioned that the figures were based on court appearances, rather than individuals, so the same person could appear more than once in the figures; for example, if they attended a pre-trial hearing, a trial and then sentencing for the same offence they would be counted three times.

The report, authored by Peter Cuthbertson, director of the Centre for Crime Prevention, recommends criminals with a proven track record of offending and reoffending should not be given the benefit of the doubt and that community punishments, fines and suspended sentences should be reserved for first-time, minor offenders, not prolific criminals.

Mr Cuthbertson said: “The courts are failing to take crime seriously. Prison is the only sure way to protect the public from hardened criminals. The most prolific offenders are responsible for a growing percentage of all crime and locking them up would have a massive impact on the crime rate.”

He also says that the Government should consider an automatic minimum sentence of four years for anyone convicted after a certain number of previous offences.

The report identifies that there are far more repeat offenders in England and Wales than prison places and recommends that the Government extends prison capacity.

As well as showing the proportion of offenders jailed nationally, the Centre for Crime Prevention has included a regional breakdown of statistics.

Figures from the report show that 91.2 per cent of those who go through the court system in London have avoided jail, increasing to 96 per cent in Northumbria and 92.4 per cent in Thames Valley.

Justice Minister Jeremy Wright said: “Since 2010, those who break the law are more likely to go to prison for longer and we are continuing to overhaul sentencing to ensure that the toughest sentencing measures are available to the courts.

“We have introduced a mandatory life sentence for anyone convicted of a second very serious sexual or violent offence, and also tightened up community sentences to ensure those who receive them are punished properly.

We need to break the depressing merry-go-round of reoffending; that is why we are also making radical changes to the way we rehabilitate offenders.”