The Justice and Home Affairs Committee is conducting an inquiry into community sentences. When Courts issue a “community order”, they set out one or more requirements imposed on an adult offender, who will serve their sentence in the community. The requirements are activities selected from a statutory list of 16 options. Most community sentences must entail a punitive and a rehabilitative component.
The Committee is considering practical aspects related to the use and delivery of community sentences. It is interested to assess trends in their use (downwards or otherwise) and to identify both barriers to their use and best practices in their delivery. It seeks to understand the range of activities available across England and Wales and to assess the extent and impact of local disparities in the availability of such activities.
The Committee is intending to focus on community orders specifically. While it acknowledges that considerations related to restorative justice and to other sentences spent in the community—such as suspended custodial sentences or being released on parole—may occasionally be of relevance, the Committee would like to concentrate on community orders.
The Committee is interested to hear about the experiences and opinions of the various actors of the criminal justice system encountering community sentences. This includes, among others, offenders, ex-offenders, victims, sentencers, probation officers, and private or third-sector organisations involved in the delivery of community sentences.
You should be careful not to comment on individual cases currently before a court of law or matters in respect of which court proceedings are imminent. We cannot publish submissions that mention ongoing legal cases due to Parliament’s sub judice rule—contact us before making a submission if you are not sure what this means for you.
The Committee welcomes views on the following questions. Respondents are invited to answer the question(s) of their choice. Respondents are equally welcome to flag the importance of other issues relevant to the inquiry that are not covered in these questions.
These questions predominantly relate to England and Wales. The Committee, however, is interested in comparisons with Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as in international comparisons, and welcomes evidence on community sentences (or equivalents thereto) in those jurisdictions that could inform the Committee’s consideration of policies for England and Wales.
1.How have the numbers of community orders handed down to offenders evolved over time? Why, and with what consequences?
2.How has the volume of offenders supervised by the Probation Service in relation to a community order evolved over time? How does this relate to the evolution of the number of community orders handed down to offenders? How has this impacted on the supervision of sentences?
3.What are the attitudes of sentencers towards community sentences? How have these attitudes evolved over time and what shapes them?
4.What are the main obstacles to the effective delivery of community sentences? What are the best practices for the delivery of community sentences?
5.How effective is cooperation between the Probation Service, on one hand, and the NHS and private or third-sector organisations, on the other? How successful are they at meeting the demand for all 16 requirements?
6.What practical activities are available as community sentences? Are there any disparities in the availability of activities across England and Wales and, if so, why? We welcome local insights and reviews of activities on offer in various areas.
7.Taking into account their respective impact on reoffending behaviour, which of community sentences and short-term custodial sentences is more cost-effective? Please explain.
8.How effective are community sentences at reducing recidivism? Which of the 16 requirements, if any, are effective? Why?
9.Community sentences entail a punitive and a rehabilitative component. How do offenders experience these two components? Do different cohorts of offenders, such as female offenders, experience them differently?
10.What are the attitudes of the public, in general, and victims, in particular, towards community sentences?