Managing offenders on short custodial sentences

Managing offenders on short custodial sentences
Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2010-03-10
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9780102963564

Download Managing offenders on short custodial sentences Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

More than 60,000 prisoners serve sentences of under 12 months each year at a cost to National Offender Management Service (NOMS) of around £300 million. These prisoners tend to have more previous convictions than other offenders, with an average of 16 previous convictions each and, as a group, they also have a high level of homelessness, joblessness and drug and alcohol problems. NOMS is successfully keeping the vast majority of short-sentenced prisoners safe and well - a notable achievement in a time of prison overcrowding - but is currently struggling to manage this group effectively, in part because most spend six weeks or less in prison. But the provision of daytime activity for them is generally inadequate to meet HM Inspectorate of Prisons' standards for a healthy prison. The NAO found that one half of short-sentenced prisoners are not involved in work or courses and spend almost all day in their cells. Prisons offer a range of courses and other activities to reduce re-offending; but waiting lists are too long. Prisons often do not match prisoners with appropriate assistance. Only a small proportion of prison budgets is spent on activity intended to reduce re-offending by prisoners on short sentences, despite the fact that 60 per cent of such prisoners are reconvicted within a year of release, at an estimated economic and social cost of £7 billion to £10 billion a year. The NAO argues that NOMS could achieve greater value for money by improving prisons' work with these offenders

Transforming Rehabilitation

Transforming Rehabilitation
Author: Great Britain: Ministry of Justice
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2013-01-09
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9780101851725

Download Transforming Rehabilitation Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This report sets out the most significant reforms to tackling re-offending and managing offenders in the community for a generation. Consistently high re-offending rates have led to the radical overhaul with almost half of all prison-leavers reoffending within 12 months - for those serving less than a year that figure rises to almost 58 per cent. For the first time all offenders, including those serving less than 12 months, will be subject to mandatory supervision and tailored rehabilitation on release from prison. Further plans include: a greater use of mentors to meet offenders at the prison gate and support them in the community; only paying in full for services that are proven to work at reducing re-offending; and opening up rehabilitation services to a much wider range of providers, who are free to innovate and do the things that work to turn offenders' lives around. What we do at the moment is send people out of prison with £46 in their pocket, and no support at all. The proposals will see all of those sentenced to prison or probation properly punished while being helped to turn away from crime for good. They will also mean taxpayers' money is only spent on what works when it comes to cutting crime. These proposals build on a consultation from last year which set out plans to open up rehabilitation services to the private and voluntary sector to drive innovation through the criminal justice system and increase the use of Payment by Results

Reshaping Probation and Prisons

Reshaping Probation and Prisons
Author: Hough, Mike
Publisher: Policy Press
Total Pages: 112
Release: 2006-01-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1861348126

Download Reshaping Probation and Prisons Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This text takes a look at the different aspects of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) proposals. It identifies the risks attached to NOMS, assesses the prospects of success, and more. It is useful for politicians, civil servants, criminal justice managers, and senior probation and prison staff.

Ministry of Justice: Transforming Management of Young Adults in Custody - Cm. 8733

Ministry of Justice: Transforming Management of Young Adults in Custody - Cm. 8733
Author: Great Britain: Ministry of Justice
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 32
Release: 2013-11-07
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9780101873321

Download Ministry of Justice: Transforming Management of Young Adults in Custody - Cm. 8733 Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

The Ministry of Justice are transforming how they manage offenders, so that they are both punished when they break the law, and are also more supported to get their chaotic lives back on track. They now want to make sure that these same principles are applied to the way young adults in custody are managed. Young adults (18-20 year olds) who are held in custody are usually accommodated in Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) rather than adult prisons. The context in which this was an effective means of managing this group has changed, and the current approach is no longer appropriate or effective. They are proposing a new approach to managing young adults that takes into account the challenges of this age group as well as ensuring they benefit from wider reforms. Many young adults are still maturing and sometimes lack the skills to negotiate complex social situations. When large numbers of people in this age group are held together, they can become so volatile it becomes difficult for staff to manage them. If this continues, there is a danger that the experience of young adults in custody will become more about containment and less about rehabilitation and supporting them to desist from offending. In the new framework, it is proposed that all young adults will be accommodated in mixed institutions, where resources are targeted on their risks and rehabilitation and resettlement needs. The aim is to ensure that their time in custody is both safe and effective.

Breaking the cycle

Breaking the cycle
Author: Great Britain: Ministry of Justice
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 102
Release: 2010-12-07
Genre: Law
ISBN:

Download Breaking the cycle Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This Green Paper sets out plans for fundamental changes to the criminal justice system and addresses the three priorities of punishing offenders, protecting the public and reducing reoffending. It seeks to set out an intelligent sentencing framework, coupled with more effective rehabilitation. Despite a 50% increase in the budget for prisons and managing offenders in the last ten years, almost half of all adult offenders released from custody reoffend within a year as well as 75% of youth custody offenders. These proposed reforms will seek to make prisons places of hard work and industry. There will be a greater use of strenuous, unpaid work as part of a community sentence alongside tagging and curfews. There will also be a greater focus on the enforcement and collection of fines, and a much stronger emphasis on compensation for victims of crime. Six new rehabilitation programmes will be piloted on a payment by results basis. Treatment rather than prison will be the option for the less serious offenders with mental illness and drug dependency. The proposals also seek to introduce more straightforward sentencing alongside greater transparency from the courts. The publication is divided into seven chapters, covering the following areas: punishment and payback; rehabilitating offenders to reduce crime; payment by results; sentencing reform; youth justice and working with communities to reduce crime, along with two annexes.

Towards Effective Sentencing

Towards Effective Sentencing
Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Justice Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 108
Release: 2008
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9780215522009

Download Towards Effective Sentencing Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This report evaluates the extent to which the provision s of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 to provide overall structure and clarity to sentencing, by reserving prison for the most dangerous offenders and by making effective provision to deal with other offenders through community sentence, have been implemented, and its impact on sentencing. The Committee is concerned that the Government failed to engage in any adequate resource and capacity planning for the coming into effect of the Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP). This new sentence was not accompanied by the level of custodial resources required to make it work. Meanwhile, the desired shift to community penalties where public safety is not at issue has not occurred to the extent that was hoped. Resources are a fundamental issue in delivering an effective sentencing strategy. So too is public confidence in the criminal justice system. The Government has failed to provide the information and leadership required to facilitate an informed public debate, while the media climate for such debate often depends on isolated discussion of particular cases which inhibits calm consideration. While the Government accepted the recommendations of Lord Carter's review of prisons, the Committee found his report deeply unimpressive, as it was not evidence based and was a missed opportunity. It should have considered how to develop new ideas to address the problems with sentencing and provision of custodial and non-custodial facilities in England and Wales. The Government has not learnt vital lessons from past experience. It needs to adopt a strategic approach to sentencing. The Committee make a series of detailed recommendations around these issues in order to make further progress towards effective sentencing.

A Five Year Strategy for Protecting the Public and Reducing Re-offending

A Five Year Strategy for Protecting the Public and Reducing Re-offending
Author: Great Britain: Home Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2006-02-09
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9780101671729

Download A Five Year Strategy for Protecting the Public and Reducing Re-offending Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This document sets out the Government's five year strategy to reform the criminal justice system in England and Wales in relation to the management of offenders, focusing on measures to address the factors involved in patterns of reoffending. Proposals include: improved integration of prison and probation service roles under the National Offender Management Service; the introduction of 'going straight' contracts for offenders setting out a clear set of incentives and sanctions; the creation of a single community order to replace existing communities penalties, with a mix of 12 different requirements including unpaid community work as a 'community payback'; a new estates strategy for adult prisons with a plan for community prisons to be unveiled in Spring 2006; extended use of conditional cautions with variable fines based on ability to pay; a new indeterminate sentence for public protection to ensure dangerous offenders do not get parole; the introduction of a commissioning system that ensures the separation of those who buy services from service providers; and legislation to turn probation boards into trusts.

Managing Persistent and Serious Offenders in the Community

Managing Persistent and Serious Offenders in the Community
Author: Robin Moore
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2013-06-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1134039905

Download Managing Persistent and Serious Offenders in the Community Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Over the last few years intensive community programmes for both young and adult offenders have become established in the UK as an important new component of penal policy − the ISSP (Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme) for persistent and serious young offenders, and the ICCP (Intensive Control and Change Programme) for adult offenders. Expectations of these programmes have been high, but the evidence relating to their effectiveness is mixed, and a number of critical concerns have emerged. This book seeks to address these issues, providing a timely review of the current literature, and presents findings of a recent national evaluation of ISSP. Emerging lessons for future penal policy are presented, and set within a wider theoretical context. The book concludes by stressing the need for greater realism and further evidential support if such programmes are to gain long-term credibility, and also to consider the appropriateness of differing forms of targeting as well as the emphasis placed on the various methods of surveillance.

Young Offenders and Open Custody

Young Offenders and Open Custody
Author: Tove Pettersson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2017-01-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1317310055

Download Young Offenders and Open Custody Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Young offenders given custodial sentences in youth institutions constitute an important group in the context of crime prevention research, given that offenders within this group are at high risk of reoffending or continuing with a criminal career into adulthood. This book explores the significance of custodial openness for children and youths and how this environment affects future desistance from crime. In Young Offenders and Open Custody Tove Pettersson provides powerful support for the view that the experience of more open custodial forms during the youth custody sentence is of significance both for providing incarcerated youths with a more humane environment and for the likelihood of a positive outcome following their release. Building upon detailed interviews with convicted youths and staff at the special approved homes in Sweden, this book offers unique insights into the effect of punishment on young offenders and their understanding of social control. Drawing upon quantitative and qualitative data, this book examines levels of reoffending over time among youths sentenced to custody, and considers the impact of open sentences. This book will be useful reading for students and researchers engaged in youth and juvenile justice, juvenile delinquency, and sentencing and punishment.

Prisoner Resettlement

Prisoner Resettlement
Author: Anthea Hucklesby
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1134004060

Download Prisoner Resettlement Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Prisoner resettlement is high on current political and policy agendas. The high reconviction rates of ex-prisoners have been acknowledged for many years but the rapidly rising prison population has meant that more prisoners than ever before are released. This together with the pressure this puts on to the infrastructure of the prison estate and the publication of two influential reports which highlighted the problems faced by prisoners leaving prison has concentrated attention on attempts to ensure that prisoners do not return to prison once released. The resettlement of prisoners is now a priority policy area linked directly to Government initiatives to reduce reoffending. The renewed policy interest in prisoners resettlement forms the context of this volume, which brings together current knowledge and understanding about prisoners resettlement. The book draws on the contributors extensive experience as researchers and practitioners in the field and includes contributions from acknowledged experts. Prisoner Resettlement provides a comprehensive review and analysis of resettlement policy and practice in England and Wales in the early part of the 21st century. In particular it: critically reviews current policy, theory, practice and research on prisoners resettlement explores practice issues through case studies of two resettlement initiatives and an examination of accommodation provision and voluntary sector involvement in prisoners resettlement; and examines the particular issues raised by the resettlement of different groups of prisoners including women, minority ethnic groups, prolific and priority offenders and high-risk offenders.