Deaths of the offenders in the community
Every year the MoJ publishes official statistics on Deaths of offenders in the community for the previous year. Unsurprisingly, this is the statistical bulletin I least look forward to covering but it always seems important to remember the loss of so many lives, most of them dying too young and all of them leaving grieving families and friends behind. It always seems fitting that the numbers come out close to Remembrance Sunday. Tragically, 1,404 people supervised in the community lost their lives between April 2023 and March 2024. The one point of solace in reporting these figures is that, in a major change from recent years, the number of people dying on probation last year actually fell (by 10% from 1,588 in 2022/23).
The figures
The total number of deaths of people supervised in the community in England and Wales decreased by 10% in the financial year ending 2024, to 1,404 deaths, compared to the previous year. There were 1,228 male and 176 female deaths, representing decreases of 9% and 13% respectively over the same period. The total number of deaths in 2023 to 2024, while lower than that reported in the previous financial year, is higher than that reported in all years prior to the financial year 2020 to 2021.
The decrease in total number of deaths of offenders supervised in the community between the financial years ending 2023 and 2024 is mainly driven by decreases in the deaths of those under court order supervision, which also saw an overall reduction in caseload supervision over the same period. The number of offenders who died while serving court orders in the community decreased by 12% to 756 in the financial year ending 2024 (54% of total deaths) compared to that ending 2023, whilst those which occurred under post-release supervision decreased by 4% to 608 (43% of total deaths) over the same period.
Cause of death
Deaths by natural causes represented the largest proportion of all deaths in the community between April 2023 and March 2024, accounting for 622 deaths, or 44% of all deaths in the community. This represents a decrease of 11% from 697 deaths (45%) in the previous year.
The second largest cause of death, with 392 recorded in the same period, was self-inflicted, which represented 28% of all deaths in the community. This represents a decrease of 13% from 453 deaths (29%) in the previous year.
Of the 301 other: non-natural deaths (21% of total deaths), 38% were unintentional drug poisonings. Homicide was the least common cause, with 57 deaths in April 2023 to March 2024, equivalent to 4% of total deaths.
There were 32 deaths awaiting further information required for a classification between April 2023 and March 2024, accounting for 2% of all deaths in the community. This represents an increase of 12 deaths from 20 (1%) in the previous year.
The period immediately after prison release is well known to be high risk for many. For deaths of offenders under post-release supervision in April 2023 to March 2024:
61 deaths occurred within 14 days of release from custody. Of these, 24 were self-inflicted (39%) and 16 were from natural causes (26%)
a higher proportion of all deaths were self-inflicted when the death was closer to the date of release from custody
198 deaths occurred when the duration was over 365 days. Of these, 17 were self-inflicted (9%) and 150 were from natural causes (76%)
a higher proportion of all deaths were from natural causes when the death was further away from the date of release from custody.
Age at death
The most tragic section of the bulletin is always the age of death with people on probation dying, on average, much younger than people in the general population.
In terms of age at death, in April 2023 to March 2024:
the highest proportion of deaths were offenders in the 36 to 49 age group, comprising 36% of all males and 49% of all females
the second highest proportion of deaths were offenders in the 50 to 65 age group, comprising 27% of all males and 26% of all females
males were more likely to be in the oldest age group (over 65), representing 13% of males compared to 2% of females
The proportions of males in the 50 to 65 and over 65 age categories have risen between the financial years ending 2018 and 2024 from 20% to 27% and from 8% to 13% respectively. In contrast, the proportions of males in the 18 to 24 and 25 to 35 age categories have fallen from 8% to 5% and from 24% to 17% respectively over the same period, showing the average age at death for males is shifting towards the older age groups. I presume that this increase is due to our aging prison population, with everyone released from prison subject to probation supervision.
The proportions of females in these age categories have followed a more volatile trend over the same period, likely due to the lower overall number of deaths of female offenders in the community.
Conclusion
This set of statistics always reminds me forcefully that very many people in contact with the criminal justice system face multiple traumas in their lives and often have a much shorter span of years than they should expect.
