Community order criminals ‘high risk’

Nine out of 10 criminals serving sentences in the community instead of prison are at moderate-to-high risk of re-offending.

Research carried out by the Probation Service found almost a third were considered to be at high or very high risk of committing another crime.

The Probation Service annual report for 2011 shows a jump of almost 40% in the number of community service orders issued by the courts last year. Such orders are a direct alternative to imprisonment and are only issued when a judge is considering prison.