Four in five shoplifters reoffend within a year of leaving prison

MORE than 80 per cent of jailed shoplifters reoffend within a year of leaving prison, Ministry of Justice figures have revealed.

The disclosure was made as Lord Burnett, Britain’s most senior judge until last year, warned that short sen- tences “serve no real purpose”.

The MoJ data showed that 82 per cent of shoplifters freed from prison were caught reoffending within 12 months, the highest of any type of crime.

An in-depth analysis of thefts by the MoJ revealed that of the 66,876 people found guilty of shoplifting in the past five years, 39,631, or 59.3 per cent, were subsequently convicted of exactly the same offence. The conviction for offences other than shoplifting explains the different figures.

The figures were published amid an epidemic of shoplifting with a record 1,300 offences a day. This has left the retail industry with a £1.8billion annual cost, which has added 6p to every store transaction by customers to pay for the losses and additional security.

The data confirm shoplifters are the most prolific offenders. Their re-offending rates are nearly seven times those for sex offenders at 12 per cent, and nearly double those for burglary, the next highest at 46 per cent. Robbery was 22 per cent, violence against the person 25 per cent and fraud 22 per cent.

Lord Burnett, who was head of the judiciary as Lord Chief Justice until the end of last year, said short sentences should be replaced by more effective community penalties and punishments.

“What is often overlooked is that those who get short sentences of imprisonment have as often as not had many non-custodial sentences which have, as it were, failed,” he said in a podcast hosted by The University of Law.

“I have long thought many short sentences serve no real purpose other than to punish, and none of the other aims of sentencing are served at all. I would certainly like to see more effective community penalties and punishments.”

Lord Burnett also questioned the benefits of longer sentences issued for serious crimes, particularly compared with other European countries. “Is it producing benefits to society that can be measured, that are tangible?” he said

Alex Chalk, the Justice Secretary, is piloting legislation that replaces jail sentences of up to a year with suspended sentences. MoJ research suggested the reoffending rate halves, from 55.5 per cent to 24.2 per cent, when sentences are suspended.