Tayside has the worst rate for reoffending in Scotland, shocking new figures have revealed.
Around one third 33% of Tayside criminals are convicted of another offence within a year, compared to the Scottish average of 29.2%.
The rate has dropped substantially, however, since the formation in 2006 of the Tayside Community Justice Authority (CJA), which has introduced a number of programmes to help reduce reoffending.
Latest figures, covering 2011/12, show that Perth and Kinross had the lowest rate of the three Tayside local authorities, at 27.5%, while Dundee had the highest reconviction rate, 35.8%. In Angus, 31.3% went on to offend again.
Chris Johnston, a planning officer for the Tayside CJA, has authored a report into the figures that will go before councillors on Tuesday.
He said: “The overarching trend is a reduction in the reconviction rate, with the exception of Angus, where the long-term trend shows an increase . . . However, the general trend of improvement observed demonstrates that the CJA’s partners are working effectively together and, against the backdrop of ever-decreasing budgets, are working efficiently to reduce reoffending in Tayside.”
The report shows that many of those who are reoffending are facing prolonged periods of incarceration.
Between 2009 and 2012, more than 10% more local criminals were sent back to prison for periods of six month to two years.
In the same period, the number of people in Tayside being sent back to prison for four years or more dropped by more than 45% although it still remained 33% higher than before the CJA was set up.
There was a continued fall in the number of people incarcerated again for three months or less a drop of 17.4% although the figure had increased by 3.9% since the CJA came into force.
The number of Tayside women who are reoffending has dropped substantially since the introduction of the CJA.
Mr Johnston said that the 17.4% fall in female reoffending since the CJA was formed “does not reflect the work currently being done with women offenders in Tayside and across Scotland through the delivery of women’s justice centre projects.
“These projects launched last year. Should they prove successful, it is anticipated that reconvictions among women offenders will continue to drop.”
Drug addicts remain particularly likely to reoffend, although progress with them is being made, he went on.
“As expected, (those receiving) a Drug Treatment and Testing Order (DTTO) have the highest rate of reconviction which reflects the particularly chaotic lives of typical DTTO clients but a marked improvement can be seen (in recent years),” added Mr Johnston.