More than half a million crimes were committed by offenders within a year of their release from jail or starting community punishment, figures published yesterday show.

An estimated 75,000 adults and juveniles returned to crime within a year of release or of being found guilty by the courts, the Ministry of Justice said.

But the rate of reoffending could be much higher as the figures for adults returning to crime do not include offenders given fines and discharges.

The number of further offences classed as serious, including sexual and violent attacks, rose from 347 to 388, or 12.5 per cent, when comparing adult offenders in the first quarter of 2000 with the same quarter of 2005.

Yesterday’s figures show that, despite the millions spent on deterring reoffending, 41 per cent of adults were reconvicted within a year of release from jail or community punishment in the first three months of 2005. In 2000 the figure was 43.7 per cent.

For juvenile offenders aged 10 to 17, the figure was 38.4 per cent in 2005 compared with 40.2 per cent in 2000.

David Hanson, the Prisons Minister, said: “Reducing reoffending remains a significant challenge. It is gratifying to see that the results indicate that we will meet and likely exceed our target for reducing adult reoffending. I am, of course. concerned by the increase in adult serious reoffending since 2000.”

The latest reoffending figures showed that in the first quarter of 2005, a total of 74,047 proven offences were committed within a year by adults being freed from jail or starting a community punishment. A further 56,684 were committed by juveniles.

The report estimated that if multiplying the figures by four, the level of reoffending totalled 300,000 crimes and 230,000 by an estimated 70,000 juveniles for the whole of 2005. Of these, an estimated 3,150 were serious sexual and violent offences.

It is estimated that in 2005, 145,000 adult and juvenile offenders were reconvicted within a year. Among adults freed from jail in the first quarter of 2005, nearly half were reconvicted. The figure rose to 60 per cent for those with short sentences of 12 months or less. Among juveniles, 73 per cent were reconvicted within a year of leaving custody.

Nick Herbert, the Shadow Justice Secretary, said yesterday: “After a decade of government claims on reducing reoffending, we now learn that serious violent and sexual crimes committed by released prisoners are rising. With record levels of overcrowding, drugs flowing freely and no serious rehabilitation in our jails, it is little wonder that prisoners are undeterred from a life of crime.”

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