Community Sentences “Laughed At”
The credibility of community sentences in the UK is at stake because offenders who breach the orders are not dealt with firmly enough, a study says.
Experts from King’s College London examined Community Orders and Suspended Sentence Orders, which were introduced in England and Wales four years ago. They require offenders to do unpaid work or undergo rehabilitation. But a probation officer interviewed for the study said those under the orders left court “laughing their heads off”. Offenders who were interviewed said they felt “relieved” when they were given an order instead of a jail sentence …
One probation officer said breaches were not dealt with seriously enough and “that gives completely the wrong message. “You go to court for a breach and you don’t get sent to prison, you go back on the van next week and all your mates tell everybody else about it. It doesn’t have the deterrent effect that it’s meant to have.” The most commonly suggested improvement to SSOs was that offenders who breached them should be sent to prison. One officer said: “I know prisons are full, but they’re full with the wrong people. We need to send out the message that if you’ve got a suspended sentence and you breach it, you go to prison.”
The BBC report has a lot more detailed information.
Community Corrections, England & Wales, Europe, INTERNATIONAL, Sentencing, United Kingdom