Rise in number of violent re-offenders

Friday, 9 May 2008 12:00 AM

The number of offenders going on to commit further violent crimes has risen slightly, new figures show.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) today published re-offending figures for England and Wales.

The number of violent re-offences grew from 0.78 per 100 offenders in 2000 to 0.88 in 2005.

Today's statistics however show a general decrease in the number of criminals re-offending during the five-year period.

The number of juvenile re-offences classified as serious, for example, fell slightly from 0.91 per 100 offenders to 0.90.

The total number of re-offenders fell by 7.4 per cent between 2000 and 2005, according to the MoJ.

On Wednesday, justice minister David Hanson announced changes to the way the government's performance in reducing re-offending is measured.

"Reducing re-offending remains a significant challenge. It is gratifying to see that today's results indicate that we will meet and likely exceed our current target for reducing adult re-offending. With every offender who becomes an ex-offender, our streets become safer," Mr Hanson said.

"Statistics published today also show a substantial reduction in the numbers of both adult and juvenile re-offences. The new measures will support our drive to tackle prolific crime by capturing more complete information. They will form the basis on which we will set demanding new targets for the future.

"I am of course concerned by the increase in adult serious re-offending since 2000, although this should be seen in the context of our policy to improve reporting of sex offences. There is still less than one serious offence per 100 re-offenders, and we are absolutely committed to reducing this further."

Tags:
• crime
,
• domestic policy
,
• policing and crime