Revision To Criminal Justice Social Work Statistics

There was an error in statistics published in December 2007 relating to breaches of Restriction of Liberty Orders (RLOs).

Revised figures actually show a 7.6 per cent decrease in the number of breaches of RLOs on the previous year, not a 61 per cent increase as was published previously.

Commenting on the revised figures Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said:

“The unfortunate mistake in the figures, which apply to the previous administration but were published under the current administration, has now been rectified.

“We are setting the record straight and reviewing procedures with Serco Ltd, who provided this information, to ensure any lessons are learned so that we avoid further mistakes in future.

“This is clearly a serious error and led to accusations at the time that electronic monitoring is not working. It does however provide further evidence that community penalties can play an increasing part in our progressive penal policy. We already know that reconviction rates are much lower for offenders who are sentenced to Community Sentence Orders as opposed to those given short prison sentences.

“I recently announced an action plan to revitalise community penalties and am committed to a system whereby punishment should include reparation whenever possible, providing some form of positive payback to the community they have damaged.

“A crucial aspect of changing criminal behaviour is demonstrating that there is a more rewarding alternative to a life of crime. Short prison sentences often fail to deliver on that goal. As well as benefiting the local community, effective community penalties can help an offender address underlying problems, improve employment prospects and build a sense of routine and self-esteem. This can lead to a future which is free from offending – and that is what we all want.

“A coherent penal policy must encompass a range of appropriate punishments, including prison for serious and dangerous criminals as well as tough community penalties for less serious offenders. It’s therefore vital that we make the range of community penalties available to the courts as robust as possible to ensure they can be used with confidence in all appropriate cases.”

Since the publication of the CJSW stats on December 4, 2007 it has been discovered that due to the way the breach statistics are collated by Serco Ltd, the company contracted by the Scottish Government to provide the electronic monitoring system, no differentiation was made between level 2 breaches which resulted in a warning letter and those which resulted in a report to the court.

As such the breach figures included the total number of warning letters issued, as well as the number of reports issued to the court. These warning letters are not classed as breach and have now been removed from the statistics.

Breaches of restriction of liberty orders are reported to the court by Serco Ltd.

Breaches (or failures to comply) can be voluntary or involuntary. Voluntary breaches include:

• being absent during a restriction (curfew) period;
• being present at a place the person has been restricted away from;
• deliberately interfering with or damaging the electronic monitoring equipment;
• withdrawing consent to be electronically monitored

Involuntary breaches include:

• the householder refusing to have the electronic monitoring equipment in the household;
• the person being asked to leave the restriction address by the householder. This applies even in cases where the person has an alternative address to go to as Serco have no power to agree to monitor at a different address. Only the court can vary the terms of the order in this way.

The court is advised of all failures to comply with RLOs and it is for them to take appropriate action in light of the circumstances. Options include revoking the order and imposing another sentence, including custody, extending the duration of the order, continuing the order and imposing a fine, or taking no further action.