This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Extension of DTTOs to Paisley and Greenock
13/01/2003
Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTOs) will be
available to Paisley Sheriff Court and Greenock Sherrif
Court from today.
The DTTO is a community-based disposal aimed at
drug-misusing offenders who might otherwise receive a
custodial sentence. Its aim is twofold: to reduce the
amount of crime committed to fund drug misuse and to reduce
the level of drug misuse.
Making the announcement, Deputy Justice Minister Hugh
Henry said:
"This is a significant development in providing courts
with effective options to deal with the problem of drug
misuse and associated criminal behaviour. Research suggests
that DTTOs can achieve marked reductions in drug use and
drug related offending.
"DTTOs are already up and running in Glasgow, Fife,
Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire where they are proving effective
in tackling the problem of drug-related criminal behaviour,
for instance, car crime, burglaries and shoplifting.
"Our aim is to introduce DTTOs across Scotland on a
phased basis and Renfrewshire and Inverclyde are the latest
areas to benefit from provision of the order. Further DTTO
schemes are due to come on stream within the next few
weeks, which will mean that courts in much of the central
belt will have access to this order."
DTTOs have been running in Glasgow since 1999 and Fife
since 2000 and in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire since December
2001.
Research on the operation of the DTTO pilot sites in
Glasgow and Fife and to evaluate their effectiveness in
reducing drug misuse and related offending was published in
October 2002 (Research Findings No. 62/2002 of Scottish
Executive Social Research Crime and Criminal Justice
Research Programme).
The Inverclyde area will have access to DTTOs as from
today. The Executive has provided funding of around
£400,000 to Inverclyde for the current financial year, to
make DTTOs possible. This money will go towards the costs
of additional staff and administration.