Core indicator
Youth justice
Children's reoffending rate
Last updated March 2022
(March 2022)
Latest figures for reoffending rates are for the financial year ending March 2022 (2021/22). Last reviewed: July 2024
What is this sector and how are we measuring it?
The aim of the youth justice system in England and Wales is to prevent children from offending and reoffending. What happens to children after the point of arrest – including whether they’re diverted away from formal court processes and what forms of support they’re given – can significantly affect whether children go on to reoffend.
Learn more about YEF’s work within the youth justice sector, and the evidence-based approaches for what works in reducing reoffending and crime.
To track how well the youth justice sector is functioning, we’ve chosen to use children’s reoffending rates as our core measure. An offence is considered reoffending if it leads to a caution or conviction within 18 months of a previous offence (at the point either a caution or conviction was served or a period of incarceration ended). Measures of reoffending are affected by the functioning and priorities of the police and justice system.
What does our core indicator show?
Overall, this measure shows a mixed picture. Over the past decade, the proportion of children convicted of a crime who reoffended within 18 months has been consistently falling. The current rate (for 2021/22) is 32%, down from 34% in 2019/20 (the year before Covid-19) and from 41% in 2012/13 (10 years ago). However, in the latest data, reoffending increased by 0.9 percentage points compared to the previous year (2020/21). This was mainly driven by increases in reoffending rates for theft, weapons possession and drugs offences.