One in eight sex criminals back in court within a year
THE results of Scotland’s soft-touch justice system are revealed in new figures showing one in eight sex offenders is reconvicted within a year.
The proportion of reoffending is growing despite Scottish Government boasts that reconviction rates overall have fallen to a record low.
The latest official figures also reveal that more than a fifth of violent thugs are convicted of another offence within just 12 months.
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said last night that ministers ‘are continuing to make good progress on tackling reoffending – a key goal of this government’s justice strategy’.
But Scottish Tory justice spokesman Douglas Ross said: ‘While any fall in reconviction rates is welcome, there are still alarming revelations within these statistics. The fact that more than a fifth of violent offenders find themselves back in court within a year is a damning indictment of our justice system.’
The Scottish Government figures show that out of 876 sex offenders in 2014-15, 12.1 per
‘Indictment of our justice system’
cent were convicted again of another crime within a year of their original conviction.
This is up from 10.3 per cent the previous year and from 9.7 per cent in 2009-10, meaning more sex criminals including rapists and paedophiles have struck again within months.
In many cases they will have been freed early – automatically at the halfway point for sentences of fewer than four years – while others serving longer sentences will have been freed on parole after serving half of their jail terms.
The figures also show there were 11,422 violent offenders in 2014-15 and the reconviction rate was 22.3 per cent, showing little improvement on the 22.4 per cent figure for the previous year. For ‘dishonesty’ offences – including housebreaking, fraud and shoplifting – the proportion reconvicted within a year was 42.5 in 2014-15, up from 41.7 per cent the previous year.
The figures show that for drug offences – including illegal importation, supply or possession of drugs – there was a 23 per cent reconviction rate, up from 22.1 per cent the previous year. Overall, more than a quarter of criminals convicted across Scotland committed a further crime within a year.
Lib Dem justice spokesman Liam McArthur said there was a need for sentencing reform, adding: ‘The drop in reconvictions is, of course, a good thing but it only tells half the story.
‘More than half of those given short-term prison sentences are reconvicted within a year. This is yet more evidence that disruptive, short-term prison sentences are less effective at rehabilitating people than robust, community-based sentences.’
On the reconviction data, Mr Matheson said: ‘The continued fall in reconvictions is down to hard work from partners across Scottish justice, working to prevent offending and keep our communities safe.’