“If we must have community orders, then the Probation Service must manage them properly. Community orders should only be used if they can be shown as the most effective means of delivering justice, not because they ease prison overcrowding”.

Mr Bacon, MP for South Norfolk, was speaking as the National Audit Office published its report on the supervision of community orders in England and Wales. Community orders allow judges to tailor community sentences to the severity of the crime and, at the same time, address the offending behaviour.

The National Probation Service supervises all offenders who receive a community order, but the report finds that the Service does not know with any certainty how many community orders it can deliver within its resources, nor has it determined the full cost of delivering community orders. In addition, no national data on non-completions is available.

There are long waiting lists for some order requirements. This may mean the offender cannot complete the requirement before the end of the order. Certain programmes, such as the Integrated Domestic Abuse programme, are particularly lengthy and difficult to complete within the timeframe of some orders.
 

31 January 2008

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