Disturbing article in the Independent today explaining that the number of hardened criminals reoffending is at a record high while the number of first-time offenders has dropped. At the end of the month – we learnt today – Police.uk will be releasing the data on justice outcomes which we will take a look at and decide whether and how to integrate. For all that, the general crime trend – recorded and estimated by the BCS – has been falling gently for 10 years now.
In the States, that has been put down to better Policing, in the UK the answer is much less clear. I never really accepted that Policing skill and financial resource were unicausal to crime or the lack thereof.
But the point that these latest figures make clear, is that we still have much to learn about bringing down reoffending rates – short of keeping criminals in prison longer.
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