Official figures show that the rate of re-offending for people on probation in 2019 dropped to its lowest level in more than a decade.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) said that 25% of those on probation in 2019 re-offended – down three percentage points compared with 2018, and the lowest rate of re-offending within one year since 2008.

For young male adults – those aged under 25 – the re-offending rate was 30%, while a figure of 33% was recorded for young adult females.

The figures show a big reduction between 2018 and 2019 in the re-offending rate of people serving probation for offences related to burglary.

Road-and-traffic offences

In 2019, 24% were linked to a re-offence within one year of receiving probation for a burglary offence, compared with 33% in 2018.

Regionally, the highest level of re-offending (29%) involved probationers from the south-west (Kerry and Cork) region. In the Dublin region, where the highest number of probationers lived, 23% of probationers re-offended within a year.

The highest number of probation orders (987 of 5,644) were issued in 2019 to people who committed road-and-traffic offences. Just under one-fifth (18%) of these people were convicted of a re-offence within a year of receiving their probation.

Three-year figures

The CSO has also issued three-year figures that, it says, provide a more comprehensive estimate of the levels of re-offending.

Of those who received a probation order in 2017, nearly half (47%) committed at least one offence for which they received a conviction over the following three years.

This figure represented a slight drop from the 48% recorded for 2016, and an eight-point fall from the 55% recorded in 2008.

The CSO points out that the second offence may have been in a different crime category to the first offence.