Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 March 2017
92. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the review and monitoring she undertakes in regard to community service orders and the effectiveness of same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15853/17]
View answerTo date four Recidivism Studies involving the Probation Service have been carried out by the Central Statistics Office. These are available on its website - www.cso.ie.
Similar to its three predecessors, the fourth study is a detailed study of recidivism among offenders placed under Probation Service supervision, including those on Community Service Orders. This fourth study, which was published in November 2016, covers offenders placed under supervision in 2010 and demonstrates that, overall, almost 63% of offenders did not re-offend within a 3 year period of being placed under the supervision of the Probation Service. It further showed that 66.1% of offenders on Community Service Orders did not re-offend within a 3 year period i.e a recidivism rate of 33.9%. This can be compared with the previous 2009 cohort figure of 67.5% of offenders on Community Service Orders not re-offending within a 3 year period.
