Crime Reduction - Helping to Reduce Crime in Your Area

This report by the Research and Development Statistics Directorate, is based upon the evaluation of the Stoke-on-Trent Prolific Offender Project which operated between June 2000 and September 2002. Funding was provided through round 2 of the Targeted Policing Initiative, one component of the Crime Reduction Programme.

Title: Intensive supervision and monitoring projects
Author: Research and Development Statistics Directorate
Series: Online Report 42/03
Date Published: December 2003
Number of pages: 29

Project Objectives

The evaluation concerned the project implementation and effectiveness during this 27-month period. The project established as a partnership between Staffordshire Police and the National Probation Service Staffordshire Area working intensively with up to 16 prolific offenders at any one time, with the primary objective of reducing their offending.

In designing the evaluation framework, the team adopted the principles of 'realistic evaluation', recognising the embryonic and developing project nature. The evaluation comprised process, outcome and cost effectiveness elements.

This involved implementing:

• direct observation of internal and external processes 

• documentary analysis of project records

• interviews with the project team members, participants etc

• the design of a quantitative data collection framework

• data gathering and analysis

• the application of a Home Office prescribed model to data and information we collected on costs and inputs

To generalise these projects, the Home Office adapted the schemes as Intensive Supervision and Monitoring (ISM) Projects.

Intensive Supervision and Monitoring Projects

Intensive Supervision and Monitoring Projects (ISMs) framework assumes that a small number of offenders are responsible for a large proportion of acquisitive crime, and that resources should be targeted on intensively supervising and monitoring this group. The 1998 Crime and Disorder Act's emphasis on multi-agency working and information exchange have provided this project impetus.

Key characteristics of ISMs

To date, ISM Projects have been concerned with the reduction of volume property crime, predominantly theft and burglary, although the inclusion of certain types of crimes against the person is now being considered. Their central feature has been the combination of intensive attention from both the police and probation services. The key project innovation has been joint working between 2 criminal justice agencies that work more effectively when combining aims and methods.

Other project characteristics derive from this central feature of joint working:

• the project is staffed by designated police and probation personnel, and located on either police or probation premises.

• participants in the project are required to meet local criteria that categorise them as 'prolific' - that is among the most persistent property offenders in the locality.

• they are subject to formal court orders of supervision or post-custodial licence.

• participants are subject to high levels of police monitoring and programmes of intensive probation supervision which seek to address their offending behaviour and other needs such as housing, substance misuse, leisure, education and employment.

• there has to be an agreed mechanism of information exchange between participating agencies.

• there is an agreed procedure for swift enforcement in the event of non-compliance or further offending.

Stoke-on-Trent Prolific Offender Project Outcomes

The project's primary objective was to reduce offending by project participants, although it would be inaccurate to assess results of reduced offending solely with reference to participants' own behaviour. Changes over this period may be due to external factors, such as reoffending rates reducing with age, due to a 'maturation' out of crime. It is feasible that other factors, influences and experiences in the participants' lives unconnected to the project might influence their desistance or continued offending. It is also important to recognise a number of alternative outcomes that became evident during the evaluation, including:

• the 'benefits of partnership working', with constructive relations between agencies, police, probation and health contributions to the project operations 

• development strengths of the partner agencies and, through utilising a 'comprehensive network of other support agencies', the positive interventions to provide opportunity in offenders lives.

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