Today the Ministry of Justice announced changes to the probation services. They plan to recruit 1,300 new probation officers by next year
and will be increasing the use of new technology. There will be a shift of focus towards higher risk offenders, with Accredited Programmes for longer risk offender stopping.
The Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood said: “The Probation Service must focus more time with offenders who are a danger to the public, and the prolific offenders whose repeat offending make life a misery for so many.”
Campbell Robb, Nacro Chief Executive, said:
“A properly resourced probation service is a vital part of the criminal justice system, and is key to tackling reoffending and solving the prisons overcrowding crisis. Further focus on making probation work the best it can is welcome.
“It is essential that with an increased focus on prolific and high risk offenders we don’t overlook the needs of those at lower risk. The plan to refer lower risk offenders quickly into services to help them with issues like housing, employment, and drug treatment is right, however these services must have the resources and capacity to support this.”
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We operate in more than 40 prisons and provide services across England and Wales. We help 28,000 people across our services each year and run the CAS-2 service for the Government housing people coming out of prison on bail or licence. We work with people at every stage of the criminal justice system, from liaison and diversion services in police custody and courts, to resettlement into the community after prison. We use the insights from our services and the experiences of the people we support to campaign together for a criminal justice system which better serves us all. We’ve been working in this field for more than 50 years.
