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CRIMINAL JUSTICE SOCIAL WORK STATISTICS, 2002-03
ANNEX
17. Notes and Definitions
Background
17.1 Criminal justice social work services in Scotland are provided by local
authorities throughout Scotland.
17.2 In 1991 the Scottish Office’s Social Work Services Group published
National Objectives and Standards for criminal justice social work services.
These National Standards had been agreed in consultation with local authorities
and all the key stakeholders of the criminal justice system. The National Standards
set out a framework of objectives and standards for the delivery of criminal
justice social work services and how non-compliance by offenders with orders
of the court should be handled.
Social Enquiry Reports
17.3 The main purpose of a Social Enquiry Report (SER) is to provide information
about the offender and their background circumstances, prior to sentencing,
that helps the court decide how to deal with the case. Reports can be requested
by the court for any case but must be requested before imposing a custodial
sentence for the first time, or if the offender is under 21 years of age. A
court must obtain a SER before making a community service or probation order.
17.4 In some cases, supplementary reports may be submitted to the court. These
are shorter reports which provide supplementary information (in addition to
that previously provided in a SER ).
Community Service
17.5 A person 16 years of age or over and convicted of a crime or an offence
can be given a Community Service Order (CSO) to carry out unpaid work in the
community. CSOs can only be made by courts as an alternative to a custodial
sentence. The court must also be satisfied that four conditions are met:
- the offender must agree to the CSO;
- community service must be available in the area where the offender lives;
- the offender is suitable for community service;
- suitable work is available.
17.6 Community Service Orders are for a minimum of 80 hours up to a maximum
of 240 hours under summary procedure and 300 hours under solemn procedure. They
must be completed within 12 months.
Probation
17.7 Probation Orders provide one of the opportunities for criminal justice
social work services to focus on offending behaviour. Prior consent of the offender
is required, and the order should be informed by an Action Plan in which the
offender agrees to address their offending behaviour and its underlying causes.
Probation Orders can be used very flexibly by the courts and additional conditions
can be attached regarding the offender undertaking unpaid work, their place
of residence, curfew, financial recompense to the victim or attendance at a
specialist programme such as alcohol or drug treatment. The maximum length of
a Probation Order is 3 years.
Supervised Attendance
17.8 Supervised Attendance Orders require an offender who has failed to pay
a fine to undertake a programme of designated activities for a specified number
of hours. The programme can involve:
- activities of an educational nature;
- activities designed to stimulate interest and encourage the constructive
use of time;
- activities involving unpaid work in the community.
17.9 Supervised Attendance Orders run for between 10 and 100 hours (subject
to a limit of 50 hours where the outstanding amount is up to £200) as ordered
by the court.
Statutory Post Release Supervision
17.10 Statutory Post Release Supervision covers a range of services to prisoners
and their families from the point of sentence or remand, during the period of
imprisonment and following release into the community. These services are primarily
concerned to assist prisoners to prepare for release, and to help them to resettle
into the community, within the law, where required by statute as part of a licence.
Diversion from Prosecution
17.11 Social Work Diversion schemes aim to provide persons accused of minor
offences with support and advice in relation to problems associated with their
offending. In such cases, prosecution is deferred, subject to successful completion
of the scheme.
Restriction of Liberty Orders
17.12 Restriction of Liberty Orders have been available to High, Sheriff
and Stipendiary Courts in Scotland since May 2002. A Restriction of Liberty
Order can be imposed for periods of up to one year, and involves restricting
an individual to (or from) a specified place during specified hours.
Statistical Returns
17.13 Form CJS, an aggregate return covering Social Enquiry Reports, Community
Service Orders and Probation Orders was introduced for the collection of data
relating to the period 1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000. Information on Supervised
Attendance Orders was added to the return for the first time in 2000-01. Information
on Statutory Post Release Supervision and Diversion from Prosecution was added
in 2001-02, after a pilot exercise in the previous return. Prior to 1999-00,
local authorities submitted data to the Scottish Executive using a range of
unit based returns. The information from the unit returns for the period 1997-98
to 1998-99 were aggregated to the new CJS format and fed back to local authorities
in December 1999 for checking. As a result of this exercise, a number of inconsistencies
were identified in the unit level data held. The figures for 1997-98 to 1998-99
presented in this bulletin take account of amendments notified by local authorities.
However, given the difficulties experienced both in aggregating the unit level
data to the new return and in providing aggregated data retrospectively, only
limited information is provided in this statistical bulletin for 1997-98 to
1998-99. Comparisons over time should therefore be treated with caution.
17.14 Improvements in data quality are continuing, particularly
for figures on breach applications where methodological changes have resulted
in better recording of breaches. As a result, breach application figures for
2000-01 on are considered to be more accurate than those for 1999-00 and comparisons
between years should therefore be treated with caution.
17.15 As a result of minor amendments to data for 1997-98 and 1998-99, and
also for 2000-01, figures published in this statistical bulletin may differ
slightly from previously published figures.
17.16 Figures for North Lanarkshire in 2002-03 may be subject to minor revision
in future bulletins.
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