recidivism

• the Ministry of Justice suggests that 57% of offenders reoffend in the first year after release
• Home Office 2005 says that rates of reoffending vary with age and crime - younger people are more likely to reoffend and those committing theft or burglary are more than twice as likely to reoffend then those committing drug or sexual offences
• an issue with recidivism rates are that they're likely to underestimate the amount of reoffending because many reoffences may go undetected, or there may not be sufficient evidence for a conviction in court
• the high rate of recidivism suggests that custodial sentencing fails in meeting the aims of both deterrence and rehabilitation