Decline in community sentencing blamed on probation privatisation
Report says courts have lost trust in non-custodial orders being carried out properly
A sharp decline in the use of community sentences is due to trust breaking down between judges, magistrates and the probation service after privatisation, according to a study by a justice thinktank. Since 2011, there has been a 24% fall in the number of non-custodial sentences imposed in England and Wales at a time when Scottish courts are using them far more frequently.
A report by the Centre for Justice Innovation (CJI) blames the decrease chiefly on disruption caused by changes introduced by Chris Grayling when he was justice secretary. Those changes split the former probation service into privately operated community rehabilitation companies (CRC) and a residual National Probation Service (NPS), which only deals with high-risk offenders.
Judges and magistrates remain largely unaware about what happens after they hand down a community sentence, the report, entitled Renewing Trust, says. Few of them witness the progress of, and compliance with, court orders. Many on the bench still want to use community sentences, recognising them as a vital option, says the report. “It is simply that their trust in them has been dented recently, largely by reforms imposed by policymakers on hard-working probation practitioners in both the NPS and CRCs.”
At his annual press conference two weeks ago, the lord chief justice, Lord Burnett of Maldon, acknowledged recent difficulties. “There were very profound problems in the delivery of the monitoring and implementation of community sentences for some time and … as a result, judges did lose confidence in it,” he said.
“It was simply that it became clear that many people were not complying with the orders, were breaching the orders, and little, if anything, was happening … The Ministry of Justice has been working hard with those who deliver community sentences and that problem is being resolved and so the confidence of sentences both in magistrates courts and crown courts is increasing.”
The CJI report found the number of drug rehabilitation and mental heath treatment requirements being issued by the courts had fallen by more than half from peaks earlier in the decade. A shortage of funding for treatment in community places was also blamed.
Phil Bowen, the director of the CJI, said:
“Despite the best efforts of practitioners on the ground, our report shows that the trust of sentencers in community sentences is fraying. While sentencers still see community sentences as a vital option, the combination of cuts to justice budgets and the government’s poorly implemented privatisation reforms to probation means that their trust in probation’s ability to deliver them has been dented over the past six years.”
Commenting on the report, John Bache, the national chair of the Magistrates’ Association, said:
Commenting on the report, John Bache, the national chair of the Magistrates’ Association, said:
“We share [this report’s] concerns about magistrates’ confidence in community sentences … There is an urgent need to ensure that effective community sentences are made available in every area of the country. Sentencers should also be given opportunities to review the progress made by offenders on community sentences. This would enable magistrates to give community sentences with confidence, knowing that they will help offenders to turn their lives around.”
https://thewest.com.au/business/mergers-and-acquisitions/anghies-apm-to-double-size-after-buying-ingeus-ng-b881016137z
ReplyDeletehttp://rrpartnership.com/
WA disability employment company APM has doubled in size and expanded its footprint to 10 countries after buying a firm that was once owned by former prime minister Kevin Rudd’s wife Therese Rein.
DeleteThe acquisition of Ingeus, which Ms Rein founded 30 years ago and sold to America’s Providence Services in 2014, means APM will be responsible for the employment of more than 5500 people around the world.
The Perth firm part-owned by WA rich listers Megan Wynne and husband Bruce Bellinge will turn over about $800 million a year after taking over Ingeus’ government-sponsored employment programs in Britain, the US, Canada, South Korea, Germany, Switzerland, Singapore and Spain.
APM’s local operations will get bigger through the addition of Ingeus’ Australian arm, Assure Programs.
The deal is subject to several official approvals that are expected to be granted within four weeks. Once finalised, the acquisition will make APM an internationally significant player in the welfare-to-work industry, supporting more than 350,000 people.
The fast-growing sector involves employment companies assessing people for suitable jobs, rehabilitating those who are not work-ready and supporting them while they are in the workforce.
“There is strong alignment between APM and Ingeus,” APM chief executive Michael Anghie said.
“Around the world, governments are facing many challenges such as ageing populations, increasing mental health issues, pressured health budgets, migration and integration, and technology that is changing job opportunities. Some important solutions to these challenges relate to work, health and behaviour change, which is what Ingeus and APM both do really well.”
Ms Rein sold Ingeus to Providence Services in 2014, pocketing an estimated $60 million in the deal.
Ms Wynne, an occupational therapist, founded APM in 1994. She grew it into a business supporting 1700 people and last year sold a majority stake to private equity group Quadrant in a deal that valued APM at $400 million.
Not a lot of news OH yes there is ! Come on next year will see all the kings horses and all the kings men trying to put Humpty together again much the news of SWEET FA from that idiot who broke Dumpty.
ReplyDeleteRestructure is really a ruse to regain all the CRCS ownership as all the chiefs are looking for chairs so to speak before the music stops. Some will have a chair no doubt but some will have to go. No one is this myopic are they next year is a killing ground for the all change and new contracts that wont be worth tuppence but will cost billions to re let as the providers have seen the government policy of cash cow marketisation as easy loophole territory and the Tories do seem to like it up them Mr mannering. The point being we end up paying foir more appalling providers of sod all while the staff over work get underpaid and the phoney economy of it is hidden yet costs double for a fraction of what was delivered pre split. The new order is still going to be a botched carve up of what is left and sadly the unions cannot see what is already known well past the horizon and oh look just slipping past what should be on their radar should they have any idea they would not know what to do anyway.
https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/practice/bureaucracy-jeopardising-community-sentence-efforts-justice-thinktank/5068747.article
DeleteThanks Anon at 10:30 today for highlighting that article again - I have added this comment
Delete"The plight of probation in England and Wales is demonstrated by a lack of comments.
The removal of probation as a vital part of the local judiciary's management of their adjudications was an incremental business - probably starting by the time probation began to become top heavy with Post Release from prison supervision work in 1992, with the final end rapidly following the split in 2015 so that every area is now serviced by two seperate probation organisations."
The government should not let bureaucracy get in the way of measures that will reduce reoffending and encourage rehabilitation, according to a justice thinktank which has been investigating a significant decline in the imposition of community sentences in England and Wales.
ReplyDeleteEarlier this year justice secretary David Gauke said short prison sentences should be imposed only 'where absolutely appropriate, given the evidence that those on community sentences are less likely to offend'. Instread more community sentences should be handed down, he said.
However, the Centre for Justice Innovation has today published a report, Renewing Trust: how we can improve the relationship between probation and the courts, which highlights a 'worrying sense that trust of sentencers in the delivery of community sentences is fraying'.
The report says magistrates and judges are concerned about a lack of information about the services provided by community rehabilitation companies (CRCs), a lack of transparency about a new rehabilitation activity requirement, and barriers to effective dialogue between CRCs and sentencers about community sentence options.
One magistrate told the thinktank that passing sentences is 'like sending people out into the wilderness' with no way of knowing what will happen to them. Any subsequent contact is likely to be for breach proceedings.
The centre makes 15 recommendations, including the need for 'clear' sentencing guidance on when a pre-sentence report is required. The Ministry of Justice is urged to enable sentencers to review offenders' progress in the community. Deferred sentencing for low-level offences and judicial monitoring should be widely adopted. Judge-led problem-solving approaches should be piloted.
The centre says: 'While we recognise that the extension of these approaches may impact on HM Courts & Tribunals Service timeliness targets, bureaucratic process measures can’t be allowed to get in the way of real outcomes, especially as [these] types of intervention are likely to reduce the use of custody and reduce reoffending.'
The Magistrates Association welcomed the report. John Bache, the association's national chair, said: 'We share its concerns about magistrates' confidence in community sentences and, to address this, agree that there is an urgent need to ensure that effective community sentences are made available in every area of the country, and that courts are properly informed about the community provision that is available in their area. Sentencers should also be given opportunities to review the progress made by offenders on community sentences. This would enable magistrates to give community sentences with confidence, knowing that they will help offenders to turn their lives around.'
The Magistrates can be assured that their local CRC will be doing all it can to turn a profit.
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time huge efforts were made to keep kids away from the CJS, and avert the damage it can cause. Today it seems that the earlier they're introduced to it, the more prepared they'll be later on when they become part of the supply chains that lead to the revolving door.
ReplyDeleteI know that's a cynical comment, but in a society where the Justice System has become an industry, its little surprise that youngsters are directed towards a life that can profited from by private corporations.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/dec/30/children-held-in-custody-before-trial-big-rise
'Getafix
It's not funny and not probation, but I've laughed so hard it hurts.
ReplyDeleteThe future looks bright!
https://www-standard-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/brexit-news-latest-government-ferry-contract-awarded-to-company-with-no-ships-a4027411.html?amp_js_v=a2&_gsa=1&&usqp=mq331AQECAFYAQ%3D%3D#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.standard.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2Fbrexit-news-latest-government-ferry-contract-awarded-to-company-with-no-ships-a4027411.html
It is our Chris and his ideology again
DeleteUnbelievable!!!!
DeleteYou couldn't make it up. You really couldn't.
What is unbelievable is that HMGov are defending their contract, sadly they won't be able to call in the military like when they wrecked the Olympic contracts and abandoned workers hundreds of miles from home with no lodgings.
Delete