Reoffending rates rise in Suffolk

Anthony Bond

ALMOST one in ten offenders under probation supervision in Suffolk have gone onto commit further crime, new figures have revealed.

Figures released by the Government yesterdayshow the rate of reoffending in the county is 8.56%.

The East of England showed a 3.5% increase in the rate of reoffending with its figure standing at 8.97%. It was one of four regions which the Ministry of Justice said had shown a “statistically significant increase” in reoffending.

Despite this, it was still lower than the national average of 9.88%.

A spokesman for Suffolk Probation Area said: “One of the main aims of Suffolk Probation Area is reducing reoffending. We are committed to further driving down reoffending rates.

“Reducing reoffending is about breaking entrenched patterns of behaviour in a group of people many of whom have chaotic lifestyles such as drugs misuse.

“We do this by working with offenders to transform their lives and change behaviour which causes them to commit crime.

“Suffolk Probation Area carries out vital work to protect the public, reduce reoffending and support victims, including managing Community Payback unpaid work which enables offenders to give something back to communities affected by their crime.”

The figures showed that 8.2% of offenders under the supervision of Essex Probation Service were cautioned or convicted again.

Douglas Carswell, MP for Harwich, said local justice commissioners should be used in a bid to cut the rate of reoffending.

Last night, Justice Minister David Hanson said the Government was committed to reducing reoffending.

He said: “By providing this information we are helping probation, local authorities and their partners to achieve that.

“It will allow them to measure their progress more closely and set targets at a local level. This will help towards achieving our challenging national target of a 10% reduction in reoffending by 2011.”