The recidivism rate is higher among men convicted of offences than it is among convicted women. Of all the women convicted in 2004, only seventeen percent reoffended within a year, by comparison with 26 percent of the men.
This difference between the sexes remains when attention is instead focused on a three year follow-up period. The proportion of women that reoffend within three years lies at 28 percent whereas the corresponding proportion is 41 percent among the men. This difference in the recidivism rate between men and women has not changed over the period 1991–2004.
Diagram: Persons found guilty of criminal offences, 1991-2004, and percentage of relapse into crime within 1 resp. 3 years.
Recidivism rates were of a similar size among those aged 18–20, 21–24, 25–29 and 40–49. The proportion of reoffenders is more or less the same among persons aged between 18 and 49 convicted of offences. Among those convicted of offences in these age-groups, the recidivism rate lay at between 41 and 43 percent over the course of a three year follow-up period, and between 27 and 28 percent within one year. The risk for recidivism is somewhat lower for persons aged between 15 and 17, by comparison with those aged between 18 and 49. Of those convicted in 2004, 38 percent of those aged fifteen to seventeen reoffended within three years. Among convicted persons aged 50 and over, the recidivism risk declines with increasing age. The recidivism rates in different age groups were almost the same for those convicted in 2003.
Diagram: Persons found guilty of criminal offences, 2004, by age group and percentage of relapse into crime within 1 resp. 3 years.
The statistics show that the recidivism rate increases with levels of prior involvement in crime among persons convicted of offences. The term prior involvement in crime here refers to the number of previous convictions during a ten year period prior to the initial conviction at the start of the observation period. Of those convicted in 2004 with no prior convictions, i.e. first time offenders, 20 percent reoffended within a period of three years, as was also the case among first time offenders convicted in 2003. The corresponding proportion among convicted persons with one or two prior convictions amounted to 41 percent. Of those convicted in 2004 with more than ten prior convictions over the previous ten years fully 89 percent reoffended. The recidivism rate for groups of convicted persons with different levels of prior involvement in crime has not changed during the period 1991–2004. The group comprised of those with the highest levels of prior convictions is relatively small, however. During the years 1991–2004, the number of convicted persons with at least ten prior convictions amounted to between 5,400 and 6,700. By comparison, the number of first time offenders amounted to between 34,900 and 59,700 persons over the course of this same period.
