Key findings

• Just under one-quarter (24%) of offenders who received a probation order in 2021 re-offended within a year, a fall of three percentage points when compared with the equivalent rate for 2020 (27%).
• Less than one-third (31%) of adult males aged under 25 years who received probation orders in 2021 re-offended within a year of receiving probation. In comparison, just over one-quarter (26%) of young adult females re-offended during the same period.
• There were increases between 2020 and 2021 in the re-offending rate of people serving probation for offences related to Dangerous and Negligent Acts (+50%), Public Order (+9%), and Burglary related offences (+7%).
• Regionally, the highest level of re-offending (28%) involved probationers from the South-West (Cork and Kerry) region. In the Dublin region, where the highest number of probationers lived (1,387 of 4,198), almost one-quarter (24%) of probationers re-offended within a year.
• The highest number of probation orders were issued in 2021 to people who committed offences related to Controlled Drug offences (831 of 4,198). Just over one-fifth (21%) of these people were convicted of a re-offence within a year of receiving their probation.
• Nearly two-thirds (64%) of the re-offending by people who received a probation order in 2021 took place in just three offence categories: Public Order (30%), Controlled Drug (18%), and Theft (16%).
• Looking at longer term trends, of those who received a probation order in 2019, almost half (49%) had committed at least one offence within three years for which they received a conviction.