A new report by Revolving Doors and Newton has revealed the hidden cost of low-level re-offending in England and Wales.  

The report estimates that some 29,000 repeat offenders in England and Wales – many of whom have complex, unmet needs – commit at least 130,000 low-level crimes a year. Examples of low-level crimes include shoplifting, minor assaults and drug offences. Such individuals may cost the justice system in excess of £100,000 per year and lifetime costs for some exceed £1.4m. The national impact on the justice system (prisons, probation, courts, police) exceeds £242m every year.

Repeat offenders typically experience mental health issues, housing challenges, poverty and financial exclusion, problems with drugs and alcohol, experience of trauma in early life, experience of social care interventions as a child, violence in the household and late diagnosis of neurodiversity. 

Nine key recommendations are made to reduce the re-offending rate:

1. Use of joined up public sector data to target vulnerable cohorts and individuals.
2. Reinvestment of savings into relational work (led by humans)
3. Divert people stuck in the re-offending cycle at the earliest opportunity.
4. Expand and strengthen community sentences.
5. Invest in peer support.
6. Train people throughout the system to understand and work with trauma.
7. Take a place based approach and make better use of community assets.
8. Multi-partnership work including upstream of the justice system.
9. Leadership at the highest level.

For further information, click here.