In 1895, a British government committee on prisons, chaired by
Herbert Gladstone, the brother of the former prime minister, found the
following probabilities of a further prison sentence (paragraph
85):
| Number of Imprisonments | Probability of Further Prison Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | 30% |
| 2 | 48% |
| 3 | 64% |
| 4 | 71% |
| 5 | 79% |
A century later, the Home Office found that in the first quarter of
2005, the one-year re-offending rate was:
| Previous Custodial Sentence | One-Year Re-Offending Rate |
|---|---|
| 0 | 26.0% |
| 1 | 43.0% |
| 2 | 51.7% |
| 3 | 57.0% |
| 4 | 60.8% |
| 5 | 62.7% |
| 6-10 | 88.6% |
| 11+ | 78.3% |
(Source: e-mail from Home Office Statistics Department)
The data are not quite comparable, but the message is clear: Every
time a person is sent to prison, he or she becomes more likely to
re-offend. Perhaps it is time we learnt this lesson.
Your donation helps Prison Fellowship International repair the harm caused by crime by emphasizing accountability, forgiveness, and making amends for prisoners and those affected by their actions. When victims, offenders, and community members meet to decide how to do that, the results are transformational.
Donate Now