Criminals flout one in three community punishments

ONE of the central planks of the Scottish Government's new justice policy has been derided as a "joke" after official figures revealed that a third of community sentences were breached by criminals last year.

Justice secretary Kenny MacAskill's plans to scrap prison sentences of less than six months, replacing them with community service orders. The change, part of the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill, is going through the Scottish Parliament at the moment.

But new government statistics have revealed 2,113 of the 6,437 offenders handed a community service order in 2008-9 were reported to the courts for breaking the terms of their sentence.

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Opposition politicians said the figures made a "mockery" of the SNP's plans to introduce tougher community punishments and offered yet another example of the Scottish Government being a "soft touch" on crime.

Although the number of community service breaches dropped slightly by 2 per cent last year, the figure is up 41 per cent since 2003, and comes alongside a rise in the number of offenders locked up as a result of failing to comply with the conditions of their punishment.

Offenders can be found to be in breach of their sentence if they disobey conditions laid down by the court. In practice, this means failing to turn up for work, being late or misbehaving while performing duties run by social workers.

Last year, 366 of the criminals subject to community orders had their original sentence revoked by the courts and were sent to jail, up from 360 in 2007-8.

The publication, by National Statistics, also revealed soaring levels of probation orders being breached, as well as high non-compliance with drug testing and treatment orders (DTTOs) and supervised attendance orders (SAOs), all designed to keep offenders out of jail.

For the 9,072 probation orders made last year, 5,698 breach applications were made to the court by supervising social workers, an increase of 23 per cent on the previous year.

Meanwhile, 29 per cent (218) of the 752 DTTOs were found to be breached, with 81 offenders subject to their conditions – which see them tested at random for drugs on a regular basis – sent to jail for non-compliance.

And more than half (2,208) of the 4,306 criminals given an SAO – which forces them to undertake education or community activity – did not comply with its terms and were reported to the courts.

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The figures were seized on by politicians opposed to the measures in the Scottish Government's Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill that would end all jail sentences of less than six months in favour of strengthened non-custodial remedies called "community payback orders".

That would require an increase in the number of offender schemes run by local authorities, a move that critics of the policy claim would cost an additional 60 million a year.

The Conservatives and Labour have warned they will try to amend the bill as it progresses through Holyrood, but Mr MacAskill looks set to get his way, with the support of the Liberal Democrats and the Greens.

Commenting on yesterday's figures, Tory community safety spokesman John Lamont said: "The SNP's much-heralded 'community-based alternatives to prison' idea is a joke. It makes a mockery of SNP and Lib Dem plans to scrap short sentences.

"It is no surprise to learn that most types of community penalty orders have increased, in some cases dramatically, since 2006-7.

"Prison serves four important functions: to deter criminals, to protect the public, to punish and to rehabilitate. All four matter, but we need the political will to make prison work. In the SNP's soft-touch Scotland, you have to be very unlucky to end up in jail.

"The prime duty of government is to protect the public. The SNP is guilty of a dereliction of that duty. Scotland is not safe in the SNP's hands."

Labour justice spokesman Richard Baker added: "The community service system, that Kenny MacAskill wants to extend by over 12,000 places, is already on its knees.

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"A third of criminals don't complete their sentences but Kenny MacAskill is hell-bent on extending the scheme. He needs to drop these stupid and dangerous plans immediately.

"The only people that will be cheering this bleak news are Scotland's criminals."

But the Lib Dems, who are expected to back Mr MacAskill's proposals, called on the Scottish Government to investigate why so many offenders were failing to comply with the community service orders.

Justice spokesman Robert Brown said: "Community sentences and DTTOs are a far more effective way of stopping reoffending than simply locking up minor offenders. But they can only be effective if they are completed.

"The justice secretary must look urgently into these figures to find out why so many offenders are breaching their community sentences or DTTOs."

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "

It is for the courts to decide what level of punishment to impose, but offenders should be left in no doubt that if they breach any type of punishment, they risk prison. These figures demonstrate that those who do step out of line are being punished."

And a spokesman for the Social Work Inspection Agency, which oversees the supervision of community offenders, added: "What the statistics don't show is almost 75 per cent of those serving short-term custodial sentences will reoffend with two years, and that figure is almost halved for those given community sentences."

'I have been given the opportunity to turn my life about'

PAULA, 21, has completed a community service order at Glasgow's Royston Youth Action group. She was referred through the Social Services Criminal Justice Team in the north of Glasgow and assisted with the group's sports programme.

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She said: "I was made aware by the manager at Royston Youth Action that their organisation had received funding for a pilot project to provide support and training opportunities to people who have been involved in crime. The main focus of the programme is to move people on to a positive destination in their life.

"When I started at RYA my self-esteem was very low and I had no confidence. After joining the youth team I started to think that I had made a huge mistake being involved in crime and realised I had been given the perfect opportunity to move on with my life.

"I worked as part of the team and was given the chance to actually say what kind of training I would like to enable me to become a knowledgeable worker.

"I completed several training courses which included sports coaching, sports first aid, referee training, elementary food hygiene, and I was also involved in several other training elements which included mental health awareness.

"When my order was completed, after about two years, I continued to volunteer in the youth drop-in. I also did sessional work as a general youth worker in the project and help deliver sports coaching for the young people.

"I was offered a job at Royston Youth Action on the Active Lifestyle Project, after about two years. This post targets young females aged from 16 to 24 to support them to lead a more active lifestyle by encouraging them to take part in fitness and healthy eating classes.

"Through the community service work I have been given the opportunity to turn my life about. I didn't realise that there could be so much support there for criminals, I just thought that criminals where treated badly in society because they had made mistakes in their life, but when I came here I realised that was not the case.

"The staff are very supportive and they really are genuine about moving people to a positive destination."

• Paula's name has been changed.

UNPAID WORK INSTEAD OF PRISON

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A COMMUNITY service order is made by the courts as a direct alternative to jail, and can only be imposed when the crime for which the offender has been convicted is punishable by imprisonment.

The order – sometimes referred to as a "fine on time" – requires an offender to carry out a set number of hours of unpaid work for the benefit of the community, with tariff rates set by the court of between 80 and 300 hours depending on the seriousness of the crime.

It must be completed within 12 months, and will see offenders aged over 16 carry out tasks such as painting and decorating, gardening and litter picking in their local area. They may also be detailed to work for a local charity, help take patients from hospitals on outings, or even clear pavements of ice during winter. Projects are planned by a council criminal justice worker who must take into account the criminal history of the offender when allocating tasks.

Some councils will run a scheme whereby local residents in need of help can receive cleaning and maintenance assistance from supervised offenders.

Community schemes are obliged by law to take account of the working patterns of offenders and usually offer opportunities for them to work at weekends and evenings.

If offenders fail to comply with the order, their supervisor will complete a breach report, with two warnings given before the matter is referred back to the courts.

SOLUTION FOR OVERCROWDED JAILS

KENNY MacAskill has proposed the introduction of community payback orders to solve Scotland's chronic prison overcrowding problem.

The justice minister has argued for scrapping jail sentences of six months and less and replacing them with tougher community punishments.

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Payback orders would take over community service and probation orders and would see minor criminals do unpaid work under supervision, seek help for drink or drug problems, or take part in programmes to address their behaviour.

Mr MacAskill has argued that they are essential if Scotland's prison population crisis is to be tackled.

Recent figures have revealed that Scotland's prison population is expected to reach almost 10,000 in less than a decade.

Official figures show that Scotland's prison population is at a record high and is expected to rise to 8,100 for 2009-10. Of those, 3,500 are criminals sentenced to four years or less.

Mr MacAskill's plan to introduce a presumption against six-month sentences and replace them with community-based disposals has proved controversial.

Labour and the Tories have described the move as "soft touch".

They have argued that the proposals in the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill would see thousands of knife criminals, muggers and housebreakers dodge jail.