Working With Offenders
Community Punishment Pathfinders
Eight community punishment pathfinder projects are being run in eleven probation services. They test approaches which research suggests are likely to reduce re-offending if applied as part of a community punishment order or combination order.
These approaches are:
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Skills accreditation – assessing the work offenders do during community punishment so that it can count towards a qualification, usually some form of pre National Vocational Qualification covering basic work skills. The aim is to help offenders into employment.
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Quality placements – McIvor’s research on community punishment in Scotland suggests offending by some offenders was reduced in work placements where offenders had contact with the beneficiaries of their work; they had opportunity to develop their own skills; and the work was of clear benefit to the community.
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Pro-social modelling – work site supervisors, and other probation staff, can influence offenders by the way they behave themselves, and by actively encouraging and rewarding offenders’ positive behaviour (based on research by Trotter). The influence must be applied consistently and systematically.
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Use of combination orders – these orders require an offender to perform community punishment, and to be supervised by a probation officer to tackle problems linked to offending. The effectiveness of the probation element, particularly where it uses an accredited programme [insert hypertext link], should be increased by using the community punishment element to help the offender practice ways of thinking learned.
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Involvement of voluntary sector – one project (Hampshire) will be exploring how far the voluntary sector can play a part in providing the approaches above to placements they provide, and what the costs are.
Projects are trying different combinations of these methods, so that the contribution each makes to reducing re-offending can be measured. The evaluation will show which groups of offenders change most, so that future work can be targeted where it has most impact. We shall also be exploring what difference if any the gender and ethnic origin of an offender make to the outcomes achieved.
The evaluators (a consortium of researchers from Cambridge, Oxford and South Bank Universities) will also be measuring the costs of the projects, and carrying out a full cost benefit analysis.
Locations
Projects are running in the following probation service areas:
More information
Main contact |
Chris Johnson |
020 7217 0695 |
Community Punishment |
Steve Woodgate |
020 7217 0684 steve.woodgate@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk |
Last update: 15/09/03