Working Offenders
Making the Right Choice: Helping Offenders Quit Crime The Story so Far
Although crime statistics tend to change periodically, the re-conviction rate for offenders has remained fairly constant (approximately half of adults and two thirds of young offenders) over the years. In this report the Government looks at what progress they have made towards addressing the issue as well as what needs to be done to achieve a sustained reduction.
Title: Making the Right Choice: Helping Offenders Quit Crime - The Story so Far
Author: Home Office
Number of pages: 10
Date published: July 2003
There is some suggestion that the re-offending rate is starting to drop. The predicted re-conviction rate for adults, either released from prison or starting a community sentence in 1999 compared with 1997, has shown a reduction of 3.2%. This is thought to be due to the introduction of programmes which have been based on research from previously evaluated projects.
These programmes focus on helping offenders to address their behaviour problems by offering them the support they need to tackle their educational and health situations.
Re-conviction rates for juveniles have fallen by 22.5% since 1997 (excluding custodial sentences). This is thought to have been influenced by the introduction of the Youth Justice Board.
All research into the subject suggests that the main characteristics of a person's background, environment and attitudes will all effect a persons likelihood of re-offending. For any intervention to be successful, it needs to be focused on the right area, on the right person, at the right time. To ensure that this happens, all offenders must be carefully assessed.
Since 2000 the Youth Justice Board has required all young offenders to be assessed using a tool called "ASSET". This underpins the recommendations made to courts and all the work that is done with the youngsters either in the community or in custody.
For anyone over 18, there is now a joint probation and prison service tool called "OASys", doing the same job but carefully tailored to an older age range. Once it has been rolled out to all prisons (it is already being used by the Probation Service) it will allow assessments made by both services to be followed though and updated wherever the offender happens to be.
For high risk sexual and violent offenders, "Multi Agency Protection Panels" have now been established in statute, placing a duty on police and probation services to assess and manage the risk posed by these offenders after release from prison.
For the small number of the most dangerous offenders, suffering from what is known as dangerous severe personality disorder, there has been a pilot assessment and treatment programme established at HMP Whitemoor.
For the kind of reforms mentioned to have an impact, there must be an effective means of enforcing the sentence.
Enforcing Sentences
The introduction of new technology has made home curfews easier to enforce. They are now applied to all eligible short term prisoners on release. Of the 69,630 offenders that have been released under these conditions, two-thirds have been released into education, training or work, with 30% in full time work. Only 2% have been reported to have committed further crime.
The Reprimand and Final Warning Scheme for young offenders has been introduced to replace the system of police cautions. 70% of people warned by the police are now assessed by Youth Offending Teams and take part in schemes designed to reduce re-offending.
Education
When serving their sentence, the emphasis is on getting the offender to a stage where he has more choices when he leaves prison. The theory being, the more choices they have, the less likely they are to choose crime. The following measures have been implemented to improve educational attainment;
All offenders under the age of 16 must spend a minimum of 25 hours per week in education.
Giving offenders the chance to catch up on their basic skills has become a priority to both the Prison and Probation Services. 10% of the number of people gaining a basic skills qualification in 2002/03 were prisoners.
All prisons offer access to the Open University
Learning is often delivered in vocational settings such as kitchens, gyms and workshops. In 2003/03 there were 89,000 key work skills qualifications gained.
The Custody to Work initiative was launched in 2001. In 2002, more than 25,000 prisoners were released into employment or training.
Drugs
As much as 55% of acquisitive crime has a direct link to the misuse of drugs therefore correct treatment of offenders with drug habits is an essential element of a successful programme. Early findings suggest that if used alongside effective aftercare, drug treatment programmes can reduce offending from 54% to 30%.
Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTO's) were introduced in October 2000.
Arrest referral workers now see between 40-50,000 drug misusing offenders at the point of arrest annually.
In the last year, 4,808 prisoners completed accredited drug treatment programmes and 30,866 have signed voluntary drug testing contracts.
Healthcare
A very high proportion of offenders have mental health problems. 90% of prisoners suffer from either poor mental health and/or substance misuse. Therefore prisons need to provide high quality health facilities in order to rehabilitate criminals.
In 2000 the Prison Service formed a partnership with the NHS to secure better standards of health care in prisons. This means:
Structured health needs analysis
NHS funded mental health in-reach teams
Developing the prison health workforce
Improvements in the prison health estate
What Next?
The report also sets out some of the new initiative which will be delivered as part of the new Criminal Justice Bill:
New sentence - custody plus and custody minus - to deliver a seamless use of community and custodial punishment for offenders who currently tend to serve very short and ineffective prison terms.
A new sentence of intermittent custody, which will help some offenders to stay in employment while serving their sentence.
A single community sentence giving the courts the maximum flexibility to tailor interventions to the particular circumstances of the offender.
Serious dangerous offenders will not be released until the Parole Board considers them to be suitable for release. Those who continue to pose a serious risk may never be released from prison.
One of the main features of the report is the emphasis on ensuring that the projects undertaken are evaluated fully. This will then provide evidence for what kind of interventions work and what ones don't which will be vital in the future if we are to reduce re-offending rates.
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Last update: Monday, July 21, 2008