Criminals with drug or alcohol problems could escape jail time
CRIMINALS with drug and alcohol problems are being offered the chance to avoid jail under a controversial scheme.
Vulnerable offenders are handed community orders that involve medical treatment instead of ‘ineffective’ shortterm prison sentences.
Psychologists have been placed in courts to help assess those eligible under a pilot scheme launched by Justice Secretary David Gauke. However, it is likely to spark a soft justice row. It comes two months after Mr Gauke said prison sentences of less than 12 months should be a ‘last resort’ as they did little to rehabilitate offenders.
However, ministers point at studies that claim drug and alcohol treatment could reduce re-offending by a third.
Mr Gauke said: ‘We are all clear that we need to do more to support vulnerable offenders in the community.
‘I want to improve confidence in community sentences, and early evidence from these [schemes] has shown that treatment requirements can have a significant impact in improving rehabilitation and addressing the underlying causes of offending.’
As well as psychologists in courts, local panels comprising justice and health officials will also help determine whether offenders should be ordered to receive treatment for mental health, alcohol or drug issues. The Ministry of Justice said the measures have already resulted in more socalled Community Sentence Treatment Requirements (CSTRs) being issued.
CSTRs require the subject to engage with local NHS services under the terms of their sentence. Failure to attend could represent a breach. Since the pilot sites went live in five areas – Birmingham, Plymouth, Sefton on Merseyside, Milton Keynes and Northampton - initial figures suggest that more than 400 CSTRs have been issued. Results from the trial sites will be assessed ahead of a potential wider rollout.
The programme forms part of the Government’s efforts to boost the number of eligible offenders given community penalties.
Latest official figures show the use of the sentences is decreasing across all offence and age groups, falling by 52 per cent over the last decade. Research shows that of those who start community orders, 32 per cent had a drug problem and 38 per cent have an alcohol misuse problem.
A 2017 joint report by the Ministry of Justice and Public Health England looked at the association between community-based drug and alcohol treatments and reoffending behaviour.
It showed that among those that committed an offence in the two years before undergoing drug or alcohol treatment, there was a 33 per cent reduction in the number of offences they committed in the subsequent two years.The reduction for those engaging in alcohol treatment was especially striking, at 59 per cent.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Justice said short-term jail sentences are known to frequently be ineffective at turning vulnerable offenders away from crime.