Criminal justice statistics
Last week (30 July 2020), the Ministry of Justice published some of its regular statistical bulletins – the Offender Management Statistics and the Community Performance Quarterly, both for the first quarter of this year. This blog post highlights some of the key trends emerging.
Fewer people going to prison
The number of first receptions into prison between January and March 2020 was 17,092, a fall of 3% compared to the same period in 2019. It is likely that this figure was slightly influenced by the pandemic (reduced court activity and start of lockdown).
Even fewer releases from prison
The number of people released from prison sentences between January and March 2020 was 14,721 , a fall of 5% compared to the same period in 2019. This figure was definitely NOT affected by lockdown and reflects a prison population with more people serving longer sentences.
Prison recalls keep rising
There were 6,690 licence recalls between January and March 2020, an 8% increase on the same quarter in 2019, driven by increases in recalls from determinate sentences of more than 12 months. However, this figure was actually a fall of 1% on the previous quarter.
Non-compliance the main reason for recall
There usually is more than one reason for recalling an offender on licence. In recent quarters, about 4 in 10 recalls involved the offender recalled for facing further charges. Non-compliance was given as one of the reasons for recalling in about 7 out of 10 recalls in January-March 2020, consistent with recent quarters.
Almost 2,000 people are on the run
Of all those released on licence and recalled to custody due to breaching the conditions of their licence between April 1999 and March 2020, there were 1,935 who had not been returned to custody by the end of June 2020.
A further 17 offenders had not been returned to custody as of June 2020 after recall between 1984 and April 1999, meaning the total number of offenders not returned to custody at the end of June 2020 was 1,952. These figures include some offenders believed to be dead or living abroad but who have not been confirmed as dead or deported.
Numbers on probation keep falling
The total number of offenders on probation (i.e. court orders and pre/post-supervision) at the end of March 2020 was 241,350 — a 5% decrease compared to the end of March 2019.
Over the same period, court order caseload decreased by 9% from 111,667 to 101,300, with the number of offenders on a community order (CO) decreasing by 10% and those on a suspended sentence order (SSO) with requirements decreasing by 8%. The total caseload of offenders supervised before or after release from prison at the end of March 2020 was 144,614, representing a decrease of 3% since the end of March 2019. (Details in graphic above.)
CRCs continue to miss targets
Nationally, the 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies hit or exceeded just 4/18 targets this quarter with performance against the “Priority of Unpaid Work” target falling by 8 percentage points. The MoJ says “there was minimal impact from COVID-19 on performance” for this quarter.
NPS meeting targets
Overall, the National Probation Service met or exceeded 16/17 targets.
Fewer offenders in jobs
Of offenders released from custody who are available for work and where employment circumstance is known, 12% are employed six weeks following their release while 88% are unemployed; down from 14% employed in the previous year.
Of offenders sentenced to a community and suspended sentence who are available for work where
employment circumstance is known, 43% are employed at the commencement of their sentence
while 56% are unemployed; down from 45% employed in the previous year.
These are particularly worrying figures showing that the numbers of people in contact with the criminal justice system in work was falling even before the impact of coronavirus.
It is obvious that the next quarter’s statistics will be very different with the influence of COVID-19 affecting almost all the activities highlighted in the post, with the exception of the number of people released from prison.
