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
Procedural justice in probation
HMPPS developed and tested a measure of procedural justice to see how fair people on probation thought their supervision was.
Pathways between probation and addiction treatment
New data on pathways between probation and treatment services and treatment outcomes.
Young adults and parole
Rob Allen and Laura Janes on their new report on young adults and parole.
Community Resolutions with young people vary by area
HMI Probation research finds national variation in the implementation and delivery of community resolutions with young people.
Probation resettlement work “disappointing”
Inspection of Offender Management in Custody model finds 6 out of 10 people released without settled accommodation and 30% recall rate.
Employing people in prison and on release
An overview of all the HMPPS programmes for employing people in prison and on release.
Probation needs transformative change
Emma Hands and Dr Sarah Lewis on growth and the core conditions of transformative change in new HMI Probation Academic Insight.
Government rejects calls to tackle unjust IPP sentence
The Government refuses to resentence people subject to IPP sentence or reduce licence period.
Coercive control in domestic violence perpetrator programmes
Nicole Renehan says domestic abuse perpetrator programmes may be less effective in addressing coercively controlling behaviours.
Effective resettlement practice
Matt Cracknell describes six key principles for effective resettlement in a new Academic Insight from HMI Probation.
48 people a year die in the first 2 weeks after prison release
Ombudsman publishes first investigations into people dying in the first 2 weeks after prison release.
Prison and Probation Trends January 2023
Offender Management Statistics for January 2023 show rises in overall prison population and 9% jump in recalls.