Everything you want to know about probation
The most up-to-date data
This is the latest in my new series of compendiums of the latest data and trends in the criminal justice system. Following compendiums on prisons, sentencing, and offender equalities, this edition focuses on probation.
For the best experience, click through the visualisation at the bottom of this page, this allows you to hover over data points and see the exact data. If you can’t see the visualisation below on your device, you can find it here.
Topics covered include:
- The type of offences people are on probation for
- The decline of community sentences over the last decade
- Caseload figures (including changes in different forms of supervision)
- The offence profile of people on community supervision
- A breakdown of the popularity of different requirements on community orders and suspended sentence orders
- Successful completion rates (and reasons for termination) for community supervision
- The spectacular drop in the number of full Pre-Sentence reports
I hope you find them of use and interest.
Compendium last updated 3 December 2020
Criminal Justice Trends
Click below for up-to-date interactive charts using the latest official data.
Offender equalities
A wide range of prison statistics broken down by gender, ethnicity and age.
Probation
The latest caseload figures and trends, offender profiles and court reports.
Prison
Details of individual establishments, costs, population trends and safety in custody stats.
Sentencing
Compare sentencing outcomes, lengths and reoffending rates and index offences.
Recent Probation Posts
10 Things I Learnt From The 2021/22 HMPPS Annual Digest
Interesting facts & figures from the 2021/22 HMPPS Annual Digest
Criminal justice trends – summer 2022
The Offender Management Statistics published in July 2022 shows the main justice trends including growing numbers of people in prison and on probation.
First day out of prison
Community Chaplaincy Norfolk share a story of meeting a person as they are released from prison.
Probation work with people at risk of suicide
Research into how confident probation staff feel about working with people at risk of suicide or self-harm.
What do staff think about the (re-)unified probation service?
Matt Tidmarsh’s preliminary findings on what probation staff think of the (re-)unified service.
Probation, Mental Health and Criminal Justice: Towards Equivalence
A new book about effective mental health interventions in probation.
Inspectors find MAPPA work inconsistent
Joint inspection finds MAPPA under-used and inconsistent, despite a 70% increase in caseload in the last decade.
Ex-Armed Service Personnel: Journeys to Harmful Behaviour
The histories of ex-armed services personnel who have committed offences of serious harm to others.
On the treadmill: probation officer experiences of mass supervision
Matt Cracknell’s research on the deskilling caused by mass probation supervision.
The future of unpaid work
Phil Bowen of the Centre for Justice Innovation blogs on their new report on the (much neglected) area of unpaid work.
MoJ wastes £98m on tagging
National Audit Office report heavily critical of ongoing electronic monitoring problems.
