Coumarelos aggregated data on court appearances over the period from 1982 to 1986, while Cain did it for the period from 1986 to 1994. Their recidivism rates effectively are averages over given periods of time, and as such they certainly mask any annual fluctuations in juvenile reoffending. The 37.1 per cent recidivism reported here is based on the court reappearances recorded during a five-year follow-up period by those offenders first convicted during the 1992-1993 financial year.