Repeat offenders committed more than 500,000 offences in a year, with more than half of these carried out by career criminals each with more than 25 previous offences, figures show.
These included some 3,400 serious violent or sexual offences, and a fifth of the offenders who returned to crime were juveniles, the latest figures for 2009 released by the Ministry of Justice reveal.
Other figures also published on Thursday show 134 dangerous criminals were charged with murder, rape or another serious offence in 2010/11, despite being monitored by the authorities.
It is the first time that the number of offences committed by offenders who have returned to crime, 510,000 in 2009, has been published.
More than 10,000 burglars went on to commit another 1,800 domestic burglaries within a year, and almost 3,000 thefts.
And more than 6,000 serious violent offenders went on to commit more than 650 violent offences, 48 of which were classed as serious.
The breakdown of figures also showed that more than 8,000 sex offenders, including more than 4,000 who abused children, went on to commit more than 1,200 further sex crimes, including 330 against children.
Of the 134 dangerous or sexual offenders charged with a serious further offence last year, 26 were managed with regular multi-agency public protection (Mapp) meetings, other figures show.
Three of these were assessed as posing the highest risk to the public and eight serious case reviews were ordered after the offenders went on to kill or rape, or tried to murder or rape, despite being monitored.
Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (Mappa) panels, which include police, councils and other Government agencies, were set up to manage the risks to the public from dangerous criminals after they leave prison.