Working with offenders
2004 findings for mentally disordered offenders
This Nacro report details the results of an annual survey carried out on behalf of the Home Office. It looks at which areas of England and Wales have some form of diversion/liaison scheme for people coming into contact with the criminal justice system who have, or are suspected of having, mental health needs. It is not within the scope of this survey to evaluate the effectiveness of these schemes.
Title: Findings of the 2004 survey of Court Diversion/Criminal Justice Mental Health Liaison Schemes for mentally disordered offenders in England and Wales.
Author: Lucy Smith (Nacro)
Date published: May 2005
Number of pages: 17
Availability: Download full report 
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A questionnaire was sent out in November 2004 to the 143 contacts associated with court diversion work held on the Nacro database following their survey of 2003. The questionnaire was based on the 2003 survey with the addition of some new questions and opportunities for schemes to provide information about any problems being experienced.
Key findings
The main findings were:
All schemes surveyed felt confident that the courts followed their recommendations to divert people to hospital, but some said courts were less likely to follow recommendations to treat in the community.
25% of schemes surveyed said they had seen a decrease in staffing levels in the last year. 30% of schemes cited staffing issues as a barrier to their scheme operating. Despite this, operational hours for most schemes had remained unchanged from the previous year. A third of schemes were operating with only one member of staff.
50% of schemes had no sessional input from either a psychiatrist or a psychologist and, unsurprisingly, 41% of schemes reported difficulties in obtaining psychiatric reports.
72% of schemes cited lack of beds as a barrier to their scheme operating successfully.
Almost a quarter of schemes felt that mentally disordered offenders were a low priority for agencies in their area.
34% of schemes said their area was using the police station as the sole 'place of safety' (section 136, Mental Health Act, 1983). Of these 40% had no jointly agreed policy on section 136.
78% of schemes collected statistics. 50% of schemes that were collecting statistics did not collect data on ethnicity and 42% did not collect data on gender.
36% of schemes did not have a policy on information sharing.
For more information on what the survey found and to view the questionnaire you can download the full report below.
Last update: Thursday, August 14, 2008