THE RIGHT SENTENCES CAN STOP THE CRIMES
COMMUNITY JUSTICE AIMS TO IMPROVE LIVES Sheriff says offenders can be given hope
SHERIFF Martin-Brown takes great pleasure in telling offenders, in the nicest possible way, that she hopes to never see them again.
Appointed as a summary sheriff in Tayside, Central and Fife in 2016, she has responsibility for the Problem Solving Court in Forfar, the area where she grew up and is now proud to serve.
Problem Solving Courts have been part of Scottish justice since 2001 when the Glasgow Drug Court opened, while Edinburgh has a specialist Alcohol Court and Aberdeen has a Problem Solving Court.
These smaller, dedicated courts, focus on vulnerable offenders who have usually experienced some trauma in their life, and many have addiction issues.
Sheriff Martin-Brown’s story features in Second Chancers, a campaign by Community Justice Scotland to raise awareness of what community justice is and build confidence in it as an effective sentencing option that reduces offending, reduces the number of victims and improves lives.
Powerful first-person testimonies and films shine a spotlight on those touched by the Scottish Justice system.
Payback, instead of custodial sentences, often comprises unpaid work and underlying issues connected to the crime are addressed through appropriate support – for example, drug and alcohol counselling or treatment for mental health issues.
“We tend to find that some people are having a bit of a crisis and spiral of offending, so we try to stop that rather than give a short custodial sentence, which might not do much to help with the causes of the offending,” explains Sheriff Martin-Brown.
Their success rates are clear. Recent figures showed that more than 80 per cent of offenders referred to one local programme completed their community payback order and only five per cent appeared on a custody list in the same period, down from 55 per cent.
Sheriff Martin-Brown adds: “There are many cases where people who have engaged with community payback orders have turned their lives around.
“Personally, the ones which are most affecting for me are the ones where there are young people who are successful in getting their lives back on track – they complete their order and are able to find employment or to enrol in college.”
Sheriff Martin-Brown is one of several professionals, including a GP, a Head Teacher, a Social Worker and
Many people on community payback orders have turned their lives around
their work to turn around the lives of offenders.
The stories reveal a Scotland where deprivation, trauma, mental health and addiction lead to startling inequality – but give hope of a better future when professionals focus on seeing the human rather than squeezing them into the systems we have built to process them.
Jenny, who also features in the campaign, demonstrates that a community sentence makes it possible to start afresh.
With support, she was able to take a new direction in life honours degree in criminal justice.
She says: “I stayed on the wrong path for so long, just thinking that was the way my life was meant to turn out, getting in trouble maybe once or twice a year with the police.
“The system always says they want to rehabilitate people so, if they want to rehabilitate people, they need to accept people from all walks of life.
“Why not give people second chances and see if they can turn things around?”
SHERIFF MARTIN-BROWN