THREE OUT of every eight people who were placed on probation or community services orders in 2007 had committed a further criminal offence within two years, new figures have revealed.

Data published by the Central Statistics Office showed that of 3,576 people who were placed on probation orders or into community service for offences in 2007, 1,332 – or 37.2 per cent – people had reoffended within two years.

Among females, where the overall re-offending rate was 32 per cent, three in five offenders under the age of 18 had re-offended within two years – by far the highest re-offending rate of any demographic segment.

The rate of re-offence among young men was also high: 52.6 per cent of male offenders under the age of 18 had re-offended within two years.

Overall, the re-offending rate among under 18s was 53.6 per cent – the highest of any age grouping – with 97 of the 181 offenders in 2007 having offended again before the end of 2009.

At the other end of the age scale, offenders over the age of 65 were the least likely to re-offend: only one of 12 men over retirement age who had offended in 2007 had reoffended within two years, while the sole female over-65 offender in 2007 did not offend again.

When broken down by category, those who had originally committed public order and other social offences were the most likely to re-offend, at 49.2 per cent, ahead of those involved in burglaries and related offences at 47.7 per cent.

Of the three people put on probation orders or given community service for homocide offences – which can include dangerous driving causing death – one re-offended, for a breach of public order.

Four people who were given community service or put on probation for other offences in 2007 were implicated in a homocide offence within two years. Two had previously been involved in thefts, one in a road and traffic offence, and the fourth in a weapons offence.

Those who were involved in thefts and related offences were the most likely to re-offend in the same category of offence: 107 people who committed thefts in 2007 and were given community service or probation orders had offended in the same category again within two years.

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