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Recidivism - Data, IndicatorsPersons released from prison

Recidivism rates of persons released from prison

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Total¹⁾	38.4	39.0	39.2	39.0	37.2
Gender
Men	38.9	39.1	39.3	38.6	37.5
Women	31.6	38.1	38.8	44.6	33.6
Age groups
18 - 24 years old	48.3	49.0	49.0	47.0	51.4
25 - 44 years old	42.4	43.1	43.1	42.0	40.1
45 years and more	21.6	20.9	21.5	24.6	21.6
Previous convictions
Without previous conviction	33.0	33.5	34.4	34.0	32.5
One previous conviction	32.4	36.5	35.8	34.2	30.5
Two and more previous convictions	71.0	59.7	59.6	63.0	63.9
Severity of recidivism
Less serious	12.0	12.8	13.2	11.9	12.6
Equally serious	20.8	19.9	19.8	22.0	19.4
More serious	5.5	6.3	6.2	5.0	5.2

1) These figures relate to adults who were released from custody in 2003. Re-conviction is defined as a new conviction in the time span of 3 years from the first conviction for crimes (German: Verbrechen, French: crimes) or less severe offences (German: Vergehen, French: délit). Minor offences are not taken into consideration. Recidivism studies are only conducted on Swiss nationals due to the fact that the residence status is not known for foreigners (distinction between home-made and imported delinquency) and due to the fact that severe sentences are often combined with an expulsion order from Switzerland.

For details on selected offences and counting rules see French and German pages.

State of the database: 13.02.2009
Source: SFO - Statistics on penal decisions (minors), convictions (adults) and sentenced persons serving prisons terms.

Last updated: 29.01.2010

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