Frightening scale of reoffending revealed: 148,000 criminals caught this year had at least FIFTEEN previous convictions

Almost 150,000 criminals convicted or cautioned last year had committed 15 or more previous offences,  figures revealed last night.
The ‘frightening’ re-offending rates mean this group alone have been responsible for  more than two million crimes between them.
And shockingly, the number of such career criminals has increased by 14 per cent in just five years.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said the figures exposed the abject failure of the criminal justice system to get to grips with repeat offenders and showed the desperate need for action to tackle persistently high reoffending rates.
Mr Grayling said the public – and the Government – were ‘fed up with crooks doing their time and going straight back to crime’. The Justice Secretary has proposed radical reforms to the Probation Service aimed at reducing recidivism among hardened criminals.
Charities and private firms will be paid ‘by results’ to engage with criminals and help them turn their lives around.
But his reforms have faced fierce opposition from unions – who are planning strike action next week – and probation chiefs.

Reform: Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said plans to privatise the probation service will save taxpayers millions

Last night Mr Grayling said: ‘People should stop and think about what these bleak figures represent – too many devastated victims, too many wasted lives and broken families, and millions in taxpayers’ money squandered.
‘Simply put, the situation is grim and it will only get worse by sitting on our hands and doing nothing.
‘Our reforms will help us put a stop to this, for the first time making it possible for every offender coming out of prison to receive at least 12 months’ support and supervision.
‘And we will only pay for services in full where they are proven to cut reoffending, making sure public money goes further.’
The previously unseen Ministry of Justice figures show some 148,641 criminals with 15 or more cautions or convictions to their names offended again in the year to  March 2013.
That total is up 14 per cent in five years, from 130,153 in 2008.
This group are therefore responsible for at least 2.25million crimes – although the true extent of their criminality will be much higher, as the figures do not capture how many more crimes than 15 each had committed.
In addition, many will have carried out further offences which went undetected.
The statistics also show that more than half a million offenders with at least one previous conviction or caution committed a further crime in the same period.
That includes 95 per cent of those given short jail sentences of less than 12 months.

Under pressure: The Goverment is being urged to suspend plans to overhaul the probation service. Probation trusts have said the plans pose a risk to public safety while the probation officers union is planning to strike

In addition, more than 350,000 of those convicted or cautioned in the same period had served some kind of community sentence.
Justice officials said the statistics exposed the ‘frightening scale’ of reoffending.
Experts say crime is increasingly committed by a small group of hardened offenders who return to crime again and again.

The previously unseen Ministry of Justice figures show some 148,641 criminals with 15 or more cautions or convictions to their names offended again in the year to March 2013

Peter Cuthbertson, director of the Centre for Crime Prevention think-tank, said: ‘These are appalling figures. Thugs are going through a revolving door of probation and soft justice and then reoffending time and again.
‘We need to do far more of what works – tough prison sentences. Locking up serious, repeat offenders cuts crime and protects the public.’
Under the new reforms Mr Grayling’s department will award contracts worth £450million to private and voluntary groups who will supervise some 225,000 low and medium-risk offenders.
The remaining rump of 31,000 high-risk offenders, including  dangerous violent and sexual  criminals, will remain under State control.
Criminals given short-term jail sentences, who currently are not supervised at all after their release from jail, will be given at least 12 months supervision and rehabilitation on release from prison.
This ‘Rehabilitation Revolution’ will, it is hoped, make a significant dent in reoffending rates.
The figures expose how reoffending remains persistently high – despite some recent falls – and  tens of thousands of criminals  continue to offend after completing community service or probation programmes.
Members of the National Association of Probation Officers (Napo) union are due to strike next Tuesday over the policy.
And yesterday the Guardian reported that the chairmen of the Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire probation trusts have told the Justice Secretary the plans will risk public safety.
The Ministry of Justice has said that more than 700 organisations worldwide have expressed an interest in carrying out the work, including hundreds of British firms.
In a letter to the Justice Secretary, Jane Wilson, chairman of the Leicestershire and Rutland probation trust, said the current timetable had ‘serious implications for service delivery and therefore increases the risk to public safety’.