Pressure caused by the roll-out of non-custodial justice is continuing to “challenge” in Tayside, a new report has revealed.
Community payback orders came into effect in February 2011, giving courts the flexibility to impose requirements including an amount of unpaid work, replacing many short-term prison sentences.
A meeting of the Tayside Community Justice Authority will hear how these orders are straining dwindling resources.
A report by planning officer Chris Johnston, to be heard in Forfar, breaks down the efficacy of CPOs in Angus, Perth and Dundee. Authority chiefs will also hear a proposal for each area to work towards its own targets.
“The rationale for this lies in each local authority facing different challenges in terms of resources, offending type and other demographics,” Mr Johnston states.
“As the three local authority areas face different challenges, for example in numbers of CPOs, geography and other demographics, it has been agreed to produce a performance report for each one individually, rather than benchmarking each against the others.”
CPO roll-out is one of TCJA’s five “strategic objectives” for 2011-14 and Mr Johnston covers the period of time since its introduction to the most recent data of September.
In Angus, the number of CPOs was at a high in the period July to September last year, at 88 compared to 80 in the previous quarter, a substantial gain on the period from the beginning of 2011.
The number of women in the sample stayed constant and in the minority but the proportion of males under 21 has increased from 10 to 20, while the section of males aged 21 and over had decreased slightly.
The expectation of administering CPOs is that the offender will commence unpaid work within seven days. Of the three areas, Angus offenders performed the worst but waiting lists are full.
Mr Johnston states: “Whilst it is still concerning that figures are low (around 18%), Angus is showing a slight, positive trend over the last year, although there was a slight dip in the last quarter.
“The number of orders handed down by the courts in Angus continues to increase. “This of course continues to increase the pressure on the limited resources available.”
There is better news in the statistics for completing the orders, as Angus shows a positive trend with CPO completion rates and shows the highest rates in Tayside for the last two quarters.
“There is still a considerable amount however, and resources will need to be managed accordingly,” Mr Johnston adds.
The largest group, males aged 21 and over, stayed constant but there was a slight reduction in the number of males aged 21 and under, and females aged under 21.