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March 2, 2009: Community Sentences Fuelling Prison Expansion
Government attempts to slow a rapidly rising prison population by a
reformed, and credible, community sentences framework have largely failed,
according to
a new
report by the
Centre for Crime and Justice Studies. There is evidence that the
Community Orders and Suspended Sentence Orders, which came into effect in
April 2005, are contributing to the rise in prison numbers, rather than
helping to arrest its growth.
The report - The Community Order and the Suspended Sentence Order three
years on - independently assesses the impact of the Community Order and
Suspended Sentence Order three years on from their implementation. Its
findings are based on analysis of government statistics about the use of the
two orders and interviews with 25 probation staff and 16 people subject to
the orders.
The authors are
Professor
George Mair of Liverpool John Moores University and Helen Mills,
research and policy associate at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies.
Some of the report's key findings:
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There was a fifteen-fold increase in the use of the Suspended Sentence
Order in its first year and a twenty four-fold increase in the three years
to 2008. Half of all Suspended Sentence Orders handed out in the
magistrates' courts are for the less serious `summary' offences,
suggesting that the Orders are being used too often and inappropriately.
-
Both the Community Order and the Suspended Sentence Order appear to be
getting tougher and more punitive. Use of unpaid work and curfews has been
growing. Both unpaid work and curfew requirements share punishment as a
main sentencing purpose, suggesting an increased resort to more punitive
requirements.
-
There is no evidence that the Community Order or Suspended Sentence Order
are reducing the use of short-term custodial sentences or tackling `uptariffing'.
The prison population has continued to grow alongside the increasing use
of the two Orders. There is evidence that the sentences are displacing
fines, rather than prison.
The Community Order and the Suspended Sentence Order became available to the
courts in England and Wales on 4 April 2005. The Community Order replaced
the various community sentences that had been available previously, which
had developed in a somewhat haphazard fashion during the preceding 100
years: the Community Rehabilitation Order, the Community Punishment Order,
the Community Punishment and Rehabilitation Order, the Drug Treatment and
Testing Order, the Curfew Order and the Attendance Centre Order. The
Suspended Sentence Order represents a revival of the old-style suspended
sentence, which had virtually fallen into disuse.
Helen Mills, co-author of the report, said:
`In their ongoing drive for effective management the government maybe
undermining a style of work that was valued by those probation officers and
people on orders we spoke to.'
Richard Garside, director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, said:
`Most people would no doubt prefer a spell of community service to six
months in Holloway or Wormwood Scrubs. But the current community sentencing
framework appears to be contributing to ongoing prison expansion, not
slowing or reversing its growth. The question is, are community sentences
part of the solution, or are they part of the problem?'
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