The recidivism of offenders given suspended sentences:
A comparison with full-time imprisonment
Being sent to prison is no more effective in reducing the risk of future re-offending than
being threatened with prison, the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research has found. In
fact, if anything, being sent to prison actually increases the risk of further offending.
The Bureau compared a group of offenders given a suspended sentence of imprisonment with
a group of offenders given a sentence of full-time imprisonment.
The prison and suspended sentence cases were carefully matched on a large range of factors
including gender, Indigenous status, age, socioeconomic disadvantage, jurisdiction (Local or
District), plea, offence type, offence seriousness, number of concurrent offences, number of
prior offences, whether the defendant had had a previous suspended sentence, whether the
defendant had a prior juvenile offence and whether the offender had a prior violent offence.
Separate analyses were carried out
for 1,661 matched pairs of offenders with a prior prison
sentence and 2,650 matched pairs of offenders who had no prior prison sentence.
Re-offending was measured via the proportion of offenders convicted of a further offence in
each group. Offenders were followed up from the date of sentence (between 2002 to 2004)
until their first reconviction or the end of 2008 (whichever came first).
In cases where the offender had no previous experience of imprisonment, the Bureau found
no significant difference in the likelihood of re-conviction between those who received a full-
time sentence of imprisonment and those who were given a suspended sentence of
imprisonment.
In cases where the offender had been previously sent to prison, the Bureau found offenders
sent to prison were significantly more likely to re-offend than matched offenders given a
suspended sentence of imprisonment.
Commenting on the findings, the Director of the Bureau, Dr Don Weatherburn, said they
were consistent with a growing body of evidence that the experience of imprisonment does
not reduce the risk of further offending.
“This does not mean we should abandon prison as a sanction for offending,” he said. “Prison
might still be justified on the grounds of general deterrence, punishment or
incapacitation.
Our study suggests, however, that it would be wrong to impose a prison sentence on an
offender in the belief that it will deter the offender from further offending.”
Further enquiries: Dr Don Weatherburn 0419-494-408 or 9231-9190
NEWS 
