Five offenders with 260+ convictions each

Northland's worst recidivist criminal has 343 convictions - mostly relating to fraud and deception offences.

Northland's top 10 criminal list shows five individuals have over 260 convictions each.

Fraud and deception offences were most common, followed by theft crimes.

Details of the individual's offending were released to the Northern Advocate by the Justice Ministry as part of a wider information request on New Zealand's most prolific offenders.

However, the ministry has refused to name the offenders, or even reveal their age or genders, citing privacy concerns.

The top offender has 343 convictions - 207 for fraud/deception with the rest including violence, "dangerous or negligent acts endangering a person", burglary, theft, drugs, property damage and traffic offences.

The second highest number of convictions by one person is 339 - 274 for fraud/deception and the remaining offences including theft, violence, "dangerous or negligent acts endangering a person", traffic and vehicle offences.

The third highest number of convictions is 287 - 269 for fraud/deception and the rest including theft, drug crimes, and offences against government procedures.

Five have 260-plus convictions each

The name and previous history should be out there from day one.Garth McVicar , Sensible Sentencing Trust

Those three individuals listed were convicted for their most recent offences in the Whangarei court cluster, which includes Whangarei, Dargaville, Kaikohe and Kaitaia.

The entire number of convictions were grouped by offence type and court cluster and handed down between July 1980 and June 2012.

Notorious Northland killer Wayne Bracken was last year sentenced to a record minimum non-parole period of 21 years for the kidnapping and grisly murder of Auckland man Jack Davis.

The 35-year old hogtied his victim, leaving him in a woolshed for 20 hours, then cut his throat with a thistle grubber. Bracken had 18 previous convictions, several for violence. Time was added because of his previous crimes and lack of remorse.

Gary Eilering of the Salvation Army manages the Northland prisoner rehabilitation programme at the Ngawha prison.

The programme, introduced this year, has helped three prisoners into full-time employment and works with offenders for a number of weeks prior to their release. He says offenders who work and are earning are less likely to reoffend.

Meanwhile, the Howard League for Penal Reform and Sensible Sentencing Trust are calling for our worst recidivist criminals to be publicly named.

"The hardcore conman is the hardest one to rehabilitate," Howard League for Penal Reform chief executive Mike Williams said. "Naming these conmen would benefit the public.

"If you know these people are conmen, you can at least avoid them," he said.

While the country's worst recidivist offender has 1152 convictions, number two on the list has clocked up 676.

Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman Garth McVicar said criminals should be named after their first offence. "The name and previous history should be out there from day one."