More work needed to tackle reoffending in Scotland

It said this has led to relatively static reconviction rates with 30 per cent of offenders reconvicted within a year. It also found that 9,500 people convicted last year – one in five of the total – had at least ten previous convictions.

Auditor General for Scotland Caroline Gardner said: “Almost £130m is spent a year on reducing reoffending and it is important this money is spent effectively. However, access and availability vary, and there is a mismatch between what is delivered and what is known to work to reduce reoffending.

“In particular, there needs to be more support for people serving short-term sentences.”

The proportion of criminals reoffending within two years fell from 44.1 per cent for  2006-7 offenders, to 42.4 per cent for the 2007-8 cohort, the lowest level since 1997-98, a report released in August found.

Social workers believe the key to a reduction is improved work in communities. Peter MacLeod, president of the Association of Directors of Social Work, said: “It is within these community-based services and not in custody that successful work to stop reoffending can be done.

“Detailed work needs to be done to shift money out of prison-dominated budgets towards more investment in community based services.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Reconviction rates in Scotland are now at their lowest level in the past 13 years and recorded crime now stands at a 37-year low. However, we agree that reoffending rates have been unacceptably high.

“That is why we are taking action to address low-level offenders, because the evidence shows offenders who serve a short prison sentence are reconvicted three times as often as those who receive community service orders.”