One-third of offenders fail to do work in community

ONE in every three criminals who is given a community payback order i nstead of a prison sentence fails to complete it, according to a report.

The study also shows that one in seven offenders allowed to avoid prison failed to turn up for a single meeting with social workers.

Offenders who did not turn up include one who claimed standard issue workboots were not comfortable enough for his feet, while another did not want to ‘mingle’ with other criminals.

The figures are contained in a report to be put before Perth and Kinross Council’s community safety committee this week.

Report author Nicola Rogerson, the council’s services manager, found the number of community payback orders imposed has risen annually since they were introduced in February 2011.

Although the percentage of orders completed during 2013-14

‘Fail to attend despite texts’

rose slightly, three out of every ten were not completed.

The report states: ‘Since the i ntroduction of Community Payback Orders (CPOs) in February 2011 there has been a year on year increase as the previous Probation, Community Service and Supervised Attendance Orders have been replaced.

‘Notably 71 per cent of CPOs have successfully been completed.’

However, the report outlines that the number of failed orders has more than doubled over the same period, with offenders simply not bothering to attend.

It adds: ‘It is difficult to start every offender’s placement within seven working days as some offenders fail to attend despite written and t ext instruction.’

The report, focused solely on Perth and Kinross statistics, also shows that the Scottish Government has failed to issue national statistics in l i ne with expectations.

Miss Rogerson said: ‘This year, management will seek to benchmark against comparator authorities and are already in touch with authorities that appear to be performing well, with a view to learning from good practice.’