Summary

Reducing reoffending following the imposition of a sentence is one of the primary aims of sentencing and of the criminal justice system generally. However, widely used measures of reoffending in Victoria are of limited value in assessing the effectiveness of sentencing because they:

• focus on a group of people that represents a small proportion of all people sentenced;
• limit the type of event that counts as reoffending; and
• use a relatively short follow-up period.

This study proposes a measure of reoffending that overcomes some of these limitations. The measure used here focuses on offenders who receive any sentence type on multiple occasions over a nine-year period. Using this measure, the present study provides an overview of reoffending following sentence in Victoria.