Key findings

• More than six in ten individuals (62%) who were released from custodial sentences during 2018 were convicted of re-offending within three years of release.
• Re-offending tends to decline with age. While 84% of young adults (aged less than 21 years old) re-offended within three years of being released, just under one-third (31%) of those aged 50 and over re-offended in the same period.
• Individuals linked to custodial sentences relating to Public Order offences (77%) or Damage to Property & to the Environment offences (76%) were most likely to be convicted of a re-offence within three years of being released.
• One-year re-offending rates for individuals released in 2021 indicate that 42% re-offended within a year after being released from custody.
• Individuals released during 2021 from custodial sentences relating to Burglary (61%), Public Order (58%), or Robbery (57%) had the highest rate of re-offending within a year of being released. Re-offences committed by individuals can be in a different crime category to the original offence.
• Half (50%) of individuals released from custody during 2021 and living in the Midland region (Laois, Longford, Offaly, and Westmeath) re-offended within a year of being released. In contrast, more than one-third (34%) of individuals based in the Mid-East region (Kildare, Louth, Meath, and Wicklow) re-offended in the same period following release.

Of the 1,168 individuals who re-offended within a year of release in 2021, more than one third (36%) re-offended in just two offence groups - Theft (236) or Public Order related offences (190). Individuals released from custody in relation to offences linked to Homicide (4), Sexual offences (8) and Assaults (151) were also most likely to re-offend in Public Order (48), Theft (20), or Drug related (20) offences. See CSO table 3.4.

For details of 3-year custodial re-offending see Figure 2.3 Individuals released in 2018 by 3-year re-offending indicator and offence type