Community Sentences Cut Crime campaign
What is the campaign?
The prison population has doubled since the early 1990s and its relentless
expansion shows little sign of stopping. This is not acceptable and simply isn’t
affordable. Well resourced and well structured programmes can challenge and
change people for the better, in a way short prison sentences simply can’t.
Community sentences raise public protection, bring down the rate of offending and
repay the damage done by crime in a way which custodial sentences cannot.
Aims:
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To increase the profile of, confidence in and use of community sentences
To celebrate and promote high-quality community-based programmes
To share information and practice at a local and national level
Why?
Community sentences cut crime - over 61% of those sentenced to less than a
year in prison will be reconvicted within two years of release. By contrast, the reoffending rate for community orders is 37%, falling to 34% for those on intensive
programmes. Throwing more and more people in prison for minor offences makes
no economic sense, given that reoffending rates for those serving short prison
sentences are double that of those on community orders, which cost a tenth of the
price and tackle the underlying causes of crime. Not only are community sentences
more effective, they also save money.
Offenders must make amends for what they have done – community sentences
can make a person take responsibility for what they have done and live a lawabiding life in the community. For example:
Probation Lunch Clubs in Sheffield, run by South Yorkshire probation service was
formed as a direct request from social services to help run a lunch club that could no
longer cope with the growing demand. The club caters for around 300 old age
pensioners, running seven lunch clubs per week, which estimates to be around 320
unpaid work hours. Service users, who are completing unpaid work hours as part of
their community sentence, travel with their supervisors to the clubs, where they are
taught how to prepare, cook and serve meals. The programme also allows all them
the chance to complete an NVQ level 1 in catering. The club offers service users a
chance to gain qualifications and gain work experience. Service users have been
known to don their wellington boots and walk through floods in an effort to get the
food to the pensioners!
Community sentences save money - lower reoffending leads to lower costs for
victims and criminal justice agencies further down the line. Community orders are
also cheaper as immediate solutions. On average they cost a tenth of what is costs
to send a person to prison for a year.
A year in prison costs approximately £45,000. Most community orders enforcing
unpaid work or directly tackling problems such as accommodation or alcohol cost
£2-3,000 a year. Intensive drug treatment orders in the community cost an average
of £8,600 a year, with only 29% going on to reoffend.
It is estimates that an extra £50-£60 million spent on the probation service would
allow for up to 1,200 additional staff to supervise short sentenced prisoners on
intensive programmes in the community, a saving of £300 million and with better
outcomes.
Probation Boards and Trusts spent £614 million in 2007-08 supervising around
244,000 individuals. The Justice Department has stated it is not possible to separate
out these costs for individual forms of community sentence. However, in March
2005-06 the average annual cost per case for a community sentence (including
Suspended Sentence Orders) was estimated as £3,265. This gives a simple
average figure of £9 per day.
Stop the use of short prison sentences - research shows that prison is failing to
rehabilitate offenders and isn't steering them away from crime. The government
should stop the use of short prison sentences and invest instead in community
programmes which work to help service users to challenge and change for the
better. At a time when public services are being cut, we need to ask whether
spending on our prison system is really delivering on safety in our neighborhoods.
The Howard League for Penal Reform believes the government should stop the use
of shot prison sentences and invest instead in community programmes which work
to help service users to challenge and change for the better.
The majority of short sentences are for three months or less, whilst only 10% are for
more than six months. In 2008, the number of adults sentenced to less than 12
months was 61,000 making up 66% of the prison population. Most served on
average between six to eight weeks as they are automatically released when they
have served half their sentence, with no rehabilitation available and with high reoffending rates. This is at a cost of £350 million a year to the Ministry of Justice.
The same administrative procedures are followed no matter how long the sentence
therefore the costs remain the same even when no form of rehabilitation or
programme of work is being carried out with short sentenced prisoners.
Homelessness, unemployment, substance abuse and mental health affect short
sentenced prisoner more than other prisoners. NOMS only has a short time to
motivate and support this group of prisoners who will be very needy and unstable
and yet receive very little intervention due to sentence length. It is estimated that
between 30-50% of short sentenced prisoners are not involved in work or activity
and spend almost all day in their cells.
Community sentences must be immediate - where possible a community
programme should commence in the week after sentencing. For more specialist
programmes, we believe there should be no more than four weeks between
appearing in court and beginning the sentence. Delays do not help people complete
their sentence and damage public confidence in community sentencing.
Community sentences cut crime. By promoting the use of high quality
community sentencing we can help achieve the Howard League’s vision of
less crime, safer communities, fewer people in prison.
How?
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Campaigning for change – help us lobby for change, nationally and locally, online
and offline
Community Programmes Awards – our annual awards for the country’s most
successful community programmes
Open Days – we shall organise local events around the country to highlight the
excellent work of each winning programme and to educate local stakeholders
about the success of the schemes – see below
Website – dedicated pages at www.howardleague.org with information about
good practice in community sentencing and opportunities to take action to
support the campaign
Student groups – we will engage with our student groups on the campaign by
organising for example, visits to winning schemes; speaker tours and workshops;
a national student conference; a Day of Action
Members – we will continue to engage with and raise awareness of our work and
the issues we highlight to achieve change in policy and practice
Community Programmes Awards
Every effort must be put into endorsing, promoting and supporting the services
working with offenders in the community. Strong local links and local accountability
are imperative if community sentences are to meet the needs of people who offend
and increase public confidence. Our awards celebrate good local practice and
initiatives. It promotes winning schemes locally while teasing out the principles
guiding them, to encourage the development of similar programmes elsewhere.
Examples of past winning schemes:
Due to the high rates of burglary offences in Leeds compared to other areas of the
country, Leeds Youth Offending Service created a community intervention working
with young people convicted of burglary offences, preventing re-offending and
available as a sentencing option to the courts providing an alternative to a custodial
sentence.
14 your old ‘Tom’ committed a number of offences in a short period of time and
whilst he was already subject to a court order suggesting a lack of thinking and a
degree of impulsivity. Tom responded brilliantly to the programme especially the
one to one nature of the work. The concept that thinking can change behaviour was
new to Tom and he was able to give examples of how he could apply this to real life.
His awareness of emotions was much improved with Tom giving fantastic examples
of how people may feel in certain situations and in turn this lead to Tom empathising
with victims of burglary. The success has been proven by the fact that Tom has not
reoffended since completing the programmes.
Together Women Project (TWP), Yorkshire & Humberside works with women
offenders and women at risk of offending. By building relationships with key workers
and through access to community based women’s centres, the project seeks to help
women tackle the reasons they commit crimes and break the cycle of offending.
TWP centres are ‘one-stop-shops’ which support vulnerable women to tackle
multiple and complex issues which trigger offending. TWP work in partnership with
many organisations such as housing, healthcare, judiciary and child welfare.
‘Claire’ is currently on a 12 month community supervision order for an assault on her
mother whilst under the influence of alcohol. She is living with her mum which is very
unsuitable. She has engaged with TWP for the past 12 months, receiving one to one
support and regular support through telephone contact. Claire has learnt to manager
her anger, enhance her thinking skills about triggers in certain situations and offer
alternative ways to manage these. With the help of her key worker she has secured
new accommodation and established stability for the first time for herself and her
son. She is attending the TWP ‘Parenting Skills’ course and reduced her alcohol
intake. She is engaging well with probation and continues successfully with her
community order.
Open Days:
The community programmes campaign will include a series of open days round the
country during 2010/2011 to educate local people about the successes of the
schemes. The days will be used as platforms to highlight the excellent work of the
programmes. Members of the judiciary, local councillors, MP’s, media, local
agencies etc. will be invited to attend an event for an opportunity to talk with
members of staff, service users, partner agencies and volunteers to find out why the
programmes works so well, how it works and how it reduces offending. The events
will be press released and promoted to the media.
This is a positive initiative to highlight the really valuable contribution that community
programmes have on affecting behaviour and outcomes for the individuals taking
part and the wider community. The Howard League for Penal Reform is determined
to enhance understanding and usage of community initiatives but it is clear that
community programmes must find ways of ensuring that people know what they are
doing is so good. The Open Days will be one way of highlighting the excellent work
being carried out locally.
Together Women Project, Sheffield - 10 December 2010, 11.30am-3.00pm (tbc)
Networking lunch – 11.30am-2.00pm
A networking lunch to include presentations made by key members from the Howard
League, Together Women Project and partner agencies is being organised. We are
inviting Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg as guest speaker. A TWP exhibition will
be open for viewing throughout the event.
Roundtable – 2.00pm-3.00pm
A roundtable discussion is planned after the event to discuss the campaign and the
diversion of women away from custody to include local MP, Leader of Council,
police, probation, magistrate etc.