A major review of the island’s criminal justice system has found significant progress since 2012, but warns prison overcrowding remains a serious issue.
The number of people in prison has more than doubled over the period, from 81 in 2012 to 160 in January 2025, which is 17 people over its normal capacity.
The report says the rise is linked to more serious drug and sex offences being brought to court, including Operation Artemis in 2022, which saw 22 people arrested and 14 convicted.
The Collinson Grant review back in 2011 had described the system as “slow, costly and unproductive”, and said reoffending was “guess-timated” at 50 to 60%.
The new report says measuring reoffending properly is still difficult, with a “consistent methodology being developed and agreed”.
More victims are coming forward for help, with referrals to Victim Support up 37 per cent to 734 in 2024-25. More than half of these were linked to domestic abuse.
A new strategy for 2026-2036 is now going to be developed, focusing on cutting delays in the courts and stopping people from entering the justice system in the first place.