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MINISTERIAL FOREWORD
Criminal Justice in Scotland is now set on a different path - a path that prevents and diverts, stemming the flow of offending and challenging offenders to return to a law-abiding lifestyle; a path that supports victims and witnesses, letting their voices be heard and justice be seen to be done; and above all a path that reduces reoffending, tackling those offenders who offend again and again, destroying not just their own lives but those of their families and all around them.
We are set on transforming how we tackle crime and offending, wherever it occurs.
Our common purpose is to protect our people.
Our common task is to reduce reoffending.
And, our common tool is effective offender management.
I am proud to introduce Scotland's first national offender management strategy. Not only because it sets our common direction and furthers our reforms, but because it offers all of us the biggest opportunity in a generation to build the effective, joined-up offender management service most of us have long sought.
The new Community Justice Authorities bring together local authorities, the Scottish Prison Service and key partners to make sure the right services are in the right place at the right time - an integrated approach with a shared task, to reduce reoffending.
At the same time we have the opportunity to open up new perspectives on how we manage sentenced offenders. We must encourage better ways of working together, where the shared task is more important than the differences between organisations. Local authorities and the Scottish Prison Service have specific duties and responsibilities to manage and challenge offenders, on which each must deliver. Yet, they cannot fully deliver on their own. Not only must local authorities and the Scottish Prison Service work more closely together than ever before, so too must we engage others - police, health, housing, employment and our not-for-profit organisations - to make that vital contribution that can make a difference between successful rehabilitation and a spiral of reoffending that wrecks communities and ruins lives.
This, our first national offender management strategy, lays the ground for deep-rooted partnerships able to reduce reoffending and protect public safety. Such partnerships are built upon commitment and shared purpose. But above all they are built upon the people who work within them. We have an opportunity and an obligation to break down the barriers that hold back our staff from working ever more closely together. Prison officers and criminal justice social workers, alongside partners from across criminal justice and beyond, must be able to exchange experience and skills, to learn from each other and to bring their joint efforts to bear to reduce reoffending. I expect everyone involved in the management of offenders, aided by the National Advisory Body, to work together to remove those barriers and to embrace joint working in spirit and reality.
I believe this is an exciting time to be working in criminal justice in Scotland. We are on the threshold of a transformation in how we work together, how we manage offenders, how we reduce reoffending and how we protect the people of Scotland, whom we all serve. We have much to do, but I am confident that together we will build a safer Scotland for us all.
Cathy Jamieson MSP
Minister for Justice
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