Reoffending is a major contributor to the growing prison population in NSW. A small group of persistent offenders, many of whom have multiple and complex needs, will have continued and frequent contact with the justice system across their life-course. These patterns of contact are often intergenerational and to improve outcomes and break the cycle of reoffending requires strategic thinking about what works to address these needs.

The NSW Reoffending Database (ROD) contains information on each person who has been convicted of a criminal offence in NSW since 1994 and is used by the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research to determine the proportion of offenders who have been re-convicted for a further offence.​ This tool looks at two measures of reoffending:

1. ​What percentage of people with a proven finalised court appearance, completed Youth Justice Conference or Police caution under the Young Offenders Act reoffend within the next 12 months?*
   
2. What percentage of people released from sentenced custody reoffend within the next 12 months?

Tables: Reoffending in NSW (XLSX, 42.2 KB)

The Excel files provides further information on:

1. the number of convicted offenders receiving a penalty other than prison who reoffend within 12 months, by gender, age and Aboriginality
   
2. the number of sentenced prisoners exiting prison who reoffend within 12 months, by gender, age and Indigenous status
   
3. the number of convicted adult offenders who reoffend within the same offence group within 12 months by offence
4. the number of convicted adult offenders who reoffend with any offence within 12 months by offence

The next update will be available: March 2025