Prolific offenders: experimental statistics
Source: data.gov.uk (2018-05-25)

Criminal Justice Statistics. The reports presents the main trends on the latest 12 months of activity in the criminal justice system (CJS) for England and Wales. For each process a brief description of the function is included with an explanation of some of the main procedures involved.

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Prolific Offenders – Characteristics of Prolific Offenders 
 
Introduction  
The Ministry of Justice launched a consultation in November 2017 to seek users’ views on 
formally establishing a definition for a “prolific” offender. Only one response to the 
consultation was received, which was supportive of the proposals to establish a definition for 
“prolific” offenders, and the age specific methodology identified.  
The definition of prolific offenders will follow the rules summarised below. 
Definition 
Juvenile prolific: 
An offender is defined as a 
juvenile prolific if on their last 
appearance in the criminal 
justice system 
• 
they were aged 10-17 and had 4 or more 
previous convictions or cautions (20,690 
offenders); 
• 
they were aged 18-20, had a total of 8 or 
more previous convictions or cautions, 
and had less than 4 previous convictions 
or cautions when aged 18-20 (33,352 
offenders); and 
• 
they were aged 21 or older, had less than 
16 previous convictions or cautions, had 
less than 4 previous convictions or 
cautions when aged 18-20 and had 4 or 
more previous convictions or cautions 
when aged 10-17 (107,056) 
Young adult prolific: 
An offender is defined as a 
young adult prolific if on their 
last appearance in the criminal 
justice system 
• 
they were aged 18-20, had a total of 8 or 
more previous convictions or cautions, 
and had at least 4 previous convictions or 
caution when aged 18-20 (8,109 
offenders); and 
• 
they were aged 21 or older, had a total of 
16 or more previous convictions or 
cautions, had less than 8 previous 
convictions or cautions when aged 21 or 
older, and had 4 or more previous 
convictions or cautions when aged 
between 18 and 20 (110,373 offenders). 
Adult prolific: 
An offender is defined as an 
adult prolific if on the last 
appearance in the criminal 
justice system 
• 
they were aged 21 or older, had a total of 
16 or more previous convictions or 
cautions, and had 8 or more previous 
convictions or cautions when aged 21 or 
older (211,945 offenders). 
 
The full definition can be found at the link 
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/659655/prolific
-offenders-2017.pdf 

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This is the first in a series of analytical papers which will focus on understanding the nature 
of the prolific offender case mix, including establishing a profile of these offenders. A series 
of future analysis is planned which will allow us to delve deeper into this type of offender, 
with the potential to explore what is the effectiveness of different sentence types and the 
career paths of prolific offenders. 
 
Key Findings 
Based on the definition of a prolific offender presented in this paper, around 492,000 
offenders meet the relevant criteria during the period 2000 to 2016. Of the cohort of prolific 
offenders 20,690 (4%) were juveniles (aged 10 – 17), 41,462 (8%) were young adults (aged 
18-20) and 429,374 (87%) were adults (21 or older) at the time of their last appearance in 
the criminal justice system. 
 
Figure1: Proportion of non-prolific and prolific offenders, 2000-2016 
 
 
Figure 1 shows the change in the offending population between prolific and non-prolific 
offenders in each year based on their last appearance in the criminal justice system. The 
proportion of prolific offenders remained fairly steady between 2000 and 2007 at around 3% 
to 5%, since then it has increased steadily and in 2016 accounted of 25% of all offenders.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
300,000
350,000
400,000
450,000
Number of offenders
Non prolific
Prolific

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Demographics  
Table 1: Number of offenders in each prolific group by age, gender and ethnic appearance, 2000-
2016
 
(1) 
Figures do not include offender where Gender is unknown 
(2) 
Police officer identified ethnic appearance 
 
Age 
Of all prolific offenders, 20,690 (4%) were aged 10 – 17, 41,462 (8%) were aged 18-20 and 
429,374 (87%) were 21 or older at the time of their last appearance in criminal justice 
system.  
Understanding how an offender becomes “prolific” or when they are “prolific” is complex. For 
example, an adult having committed one offence as an adult and 17 as juvenile could not 
really be considered a prolific adult, but would certainly be a prolific juvenile. Based on that 
presumption around four fifths of seemingly prolific young adults, i.e. aged 18 to 20 and a 
quarter of adults, aged 21 or over, were actually only prolific as a juvenile. Similarly, a 
quarter of adults were actually prolific as young adults. 
The proportion of juvenile offenders in the prolific population almost halved between 2000 
and 2016, falling from 42% to 24% over this period. In the non-prolific population the 
proportion of juveniles remained relative stable (at around 14% to 18%) between 2000 to 
2008, after which it declined to 7% in 2016. 
 
Gender 
The majority (89%) of prolific offenders were male compared to 75% of non-prolific 
offenders. Only 11% of prolific offenders were female in contrast to 25% of non-prolific 
offenders. Female offenders are less likely to become a prolific, with 4% of female offenders 
going on be prolific compared to 11% of males.    
However, the proportion of females in the prolific population increased from 8% in 2000 to 
10% in 2016, where as in the non-prolific population the proportion of females fell from 26% 
in 2000 to 19% in 2016. 

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Ethnic Appearance 
88% of prolific offenders were identified to be of White ethnic appearance while 8% were 
identified to be of Black ethnic appearance. This distribution is similar with those found in the 
non-prolific group. 
In both the prolific and non-prolific cohorts a similar trend was seen. The proportion of 
offenders of White ethnic appearance in the prolific population fell from 91% in 2000 to 86% 
in 2016, compared to the non-prolific population which saw a fall from 81% in 2000 to 77% in 
2016. The proportion of offenders of Black ethnic appearance doubled over the period, rising 
from 5% in 2000 to 10% in 2016 in the prolific population, and 4% in 2000 to 9% in 2016 in 
the non-prolific population. 
 
Prolific offending behaviour  
Criminal career history  
Table 2: Criminal history of prolific offenders 
 
(1) Excluding offenders aged under 9 at first offence 
(2) Excluding life imprisonment 
 
The youngest an offender started their criminal career was 9. This is because for the period 
covered by this analysis the age of criminal responsibility was 8 in Scotland, and any 
offending in Scotland is accounted for if the offender subsequently offends in England and 
Wales. It is also worth noting that for each age cohort, on average the age a prolific offender 
committed their first offence was as a teenager.  
Around 80% of prolific offenders received their first sanction under the age of 17 and all 
offenders had received at least one immediate custodial sentence during their criminal 
career. The sleeping time, i.e. between an offenders most recent conviction/caution and the 
last conviction/caution, ranged from one day to over 42 years, and was on average 3 years. 
As prolific offenders get older the length of time between offending seems to increase, with 

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adult prolific offenders being reconvicted around every 2.2 years, compared to juvenile 
prolific offenders which was only 8 months. Periods of imprisonment will, in some cases, 
have contributed to long gaps between offences, however only 1 in 4 sentencing occasions 
results in a custodial sentence. On average, each prolific offender had 5 immediate custody 
sentences during their criminal career. 
Offence and disposal on the first and the last occasion 
Figure 2: Offence Type Comparison by Prolific and Non-prolific Offenders, and first and last 
offence 
 
Prolific offenders were most likely to have started their criminal career with more minor 
offences such as theft (mainly shoplifting), summary offences or criminal damage and arson 
offences. Around 45% of prolific offenders committed a theft offence as their first offence 
while 21% of the non-prolific offenders started with the same offence type.  
At their last appearance in the Criminal Justice System prolific offenders were more likely to 
have committed a more serious offence such as violence or drug offences.  In contrast to the 
first offence the proportion of theft and criminal damage offences were reduced to 21% and 
1% respectively.  The proportion of prolific offenders convicted or cautioned for violence 
against the person offences has increased to 45%, 63% for sexual offences and 45% for 
possession weapons offences on their last appearance in the criminal justice system 
compared to those convicted or cautioned for the same offences on the first appearance.  
Figure 3: Disposal Type Comparison by Prolific and Non-prolific offenders, and first and last 
offence 
 
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Violence against the person
Sexual offences
Robbery
Theft Offences
Criminal damage and arson
Drug offences
Possession of weapons
Public order offences
Miscellaneous crimes against society
Fraud offences
Summary offences excluding motoring
Summary motoring offences
Unknown
Offences outside England & Wales
Proportion (%)
Prolific offenders
First offence
Last offence
0%
5%
10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
Violence against the person
Sexual offences
Robbery
Theft Offences
Criminal damage and arson
Drug offences
Possession of weapons
Public order offences
Miscellaneous crimes against society
Fraud offences
Summary offences excluding motoring
Summary motoring offences
Unknown
Offences outside England & Wales
Proportion (%)
Non-prolific offenders
First offence
Last offence
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Caution
Absolute Discharge
Conditional Discharge
Fine
Community Sentences
Suspended Sentences
Immediate Custody
Other
Proportion (%)
Prolific offenders
First
Last
0%
20%
40%
60%
Caution
Absolute Discharge
Conditional Discharge
Fine
Community Sentences
Suspended Sentences
Immediate Custody
Other
Proportion (%)
Non-prolific offenders
First
Last

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Caution is the most common disposal given to first time offenders. However, prolific 
offenders, on conviction, are more likely to get a conditional discharge and community 
sentence for their first offence than non-prolific offenders.  For prolific offenders, community 
sentences and conditional discharges accounted for 38% of all disposals given for a first 
offence compared to just 18% for the non-prolific cohort. 
Prolific offenders are more likely to receive a more severe disposal on their last appearance 
in the criminal justice system; around 90% received a conviction compared to just 56% of 
non-prolific offenders.  A third of prolific offenders had received some sort of custodial 
sentence (i.e. immediate custody and suspended sentence) compared to a tenth given to 
non-prolific offenders. Caution is still the most common disposal given to the non-prolific 
offenders (45%) while only 11% were given to prolific offenders. 
 
Offence and disposal in the whole criminal history 
Table 3: Number and percentage of sanctions by offence type and disposal in the whole 
criminal career1 
 
1 This counts conviction and caution sentencing occasions including the index offence sentencing occasion 
 
Prolific offenders commit nearly 8 times as many offences as all other offenders. Prolific 
offenders have been sentenced, on average, to immediate custody 4.6 times, and despite 

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being less than one tenth of the offending population they have been to prison more times 
than all other offenders combined. 
As an offender becomes prolific they are more likely to receive a custodial sentence, with 
25% receiving an immediate custodial sentence for their last offence, compared to 3% for 
their first offence. By comparison non-prolific offenders are more likely to receive a caution 
for their first (52%) and last offence (45%).