Warwickshire Probation, Reducing re-offending

The court may have sentenced you with any of the following requirements:

UNPAID WORK: Known as Community Payback because of what it does, unpaid work is used as a punishment. The work people do must help communities by improving the local environment. It builds the confidence of the general public in community sentences and it can be a way into work for the offenders.

SUPERVISION: This means that an offender has to have regular meetings with their Offender Manager. He or she will work with them to check on their behaviour and to discuss its effects and causes with them. The Offender Manager will also give counselling, and try to increase the offender’s motivation. They will try to make sure that the offender completes all the requirements they have been given by the court.

ACCREDITED PROGRAMME: Some offenders have to go on courses (programmes). These programmes deal with behaviour such as general offending, violence or sex offending. They also look at drug or alcohol abuse and domestic violence. (See below)

DRUG REHABILITATION: Drug treatment aims to reduce or end dependency on drugs. The offender is required to take tests for drug use and to attend an accredited programme. A Requirement can last between 6 months and three years.

ALCOHOL TREATMENT: Alcohol treatment aims to reduce or end dependency on alcohol. It is combined with Supervision, to support and reinforce rehabilitation. A Requirement can last between 6 months and three years.

MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT: The offender is required to submit to treatment by, or under the direction of, a medical practitioner and/or a chartered psychologist. Treatment may be as a resident patient or at a care home or hospital. This Requirement is combined with Supervision to support and reinforce rehabilitation.

RESIDENCE: The offender must live at an address chosen by the court. This can be either an Approved Premise (hostel) or a private address.

SPECIFIED ACTIVITY: Activity Requirements can be used for a wide range of activities, from day centre type activities to education, and reparation to victims or persons affected by  the offending (specifically mentioned in the Act).  Their use allows participation in the specific activity to be explicitly included in the Pre Sentence Report and Sentence Plan.  This Plan helps to ensure offenders are clear about the expectations placed upon them, and the intentions of the Court can be clearly enforced. Potential activities include Education, Training and Employment, Compliance, and Mediation between the offender and the victim or persons affected by the offending.

PROHIBITED ACTIVITY: This requirement bans the offender from taking part in certain activity or activities. This could include a ban on entering a particular public house or attending a football match.

EXCLUSION: This requirement bans the offender from entering a specified place or places for a period of up to two years. This could include keeping way from the area around a victim’s home or workplace, or staying out of a particular area of town to prevent public order offences.

CURFEW: This is supported by electronic monitoring. The offender must wear a tag. This is a bracelet around the ankle with a wireless connection to a sensor in the home. The offender must stay at a specified address between certain hours of the day or night. The curfew can be from two hours and up to sixteen hours per day. Orders last for a maximum of twelve months.

ATTENDANCE CENTRE: This requirement is for offenders aged between 18 and 24 years. They must go to an Attendance Centre on Saturday for 3 hours. At the Centre the offender looks at their offending behaviour in an organised way. This also reduces the offender’s free time at the weekend.

A number of intervention programmes, known as ‘accredited programmes’, addressing particular types or root causes of offending behaviour are run by staff in the Warwickshire Probation Trust. These include compulsory courses for sex offenders, drink drivers, and perpetrators of domestic violence, which are aimed at changing offenders’ thinking and behaviour.

If your miss a session, you have to do a catch-up session. If you continue to miss sessions without a good reason you may be in breach of your community order and could be sent back to court. Some programmes have limits on the number of catch-up sessions, insisting an offender starts the programme again.

 

Some offenders are required to attend relevant and suitable accredited programmes. These programmes address behaviour such as general offending, violence, sex offending, drug or alcohol abuse, domestic violence or drink impaired driving. Accredited programmes available at WPT are:

Drink Impaired Drivers Programme (DID)
This programme is for men and women. Drink Impaired Drivers Programme is a group of  14 sessions each lasting 2 ½   hours.The aim of the Drink Impaired Drivers Programme is to reduce the likelihood of committing another drink drive offence by improving your knowledge, awareness and ability to tackle problems in other ways.

By the end of the programme you will have had an opportunity to learn to:

  •  Understand how alcohol affects the body
  •  Challenge attitudes towards drinking and driving
  •  Consider the consequences to others of drinking and driving
  •  Examine the alternatives to drinking and driving
  •  Understand how alcohol affects the skills required to drive a car
  •  Monitor your own drinking patterns and to understand why you drink
  •  Recognise how emotions can affect making decisions
  •  Consider the reasons why you committed the offence

 

Enhanced Thinking Skills Programme (ETSP)
ETSP is a group programme which helps offenders to think things over rationally, instead of acting rashly and getting into trouble. TSP is a group of 20 sessions each lasting up to 2½ hours. There will usually be 2 sessions each week.  ETSP is based on the idea that behaviour and thinking are linked. This group can help you to learn new ways of thinking about the choices you face in your everyday life and will help you stop offending.

The new skills we offer are:

  • Not being so impulsive,
  • Thinking in a creative way
  • Thinking logically
  • Finding alternative ways forward
  • Considering how your behaviour affects other people
  • Learning to listen to others
  • Learning how to convince others
  • Learning how to negotiate
  • Making better decisions

One to One (1:1)
One to One aims to enable offenders to develop a range of problem-solving skills in order to change their behaviour and the underpinning thought, values and attitudes related to offending. The court may order you to follow this programme as part of your sentence. It will help you look at your skills and how you make decisions, learn how to think things through and make decisions without offending and learn how to use new skills to solve real problems in your life. The program will be of about 20 session each lasting between 1hr- 1 ½ hrs.

Think First

Think First is about teaching you to look at how you react to problems and other people and learning a new approach to the way you think and solve problems will enable you to stop offending. The sessions are tutor led and include a number of exercises to help you learn how to solve problems in a new way and to think how your actions can hurt other people. The program has 4 introductory session, 22 main session and up tp 6 follow-up sessions.

Drug Rehabilitation

If the courts have decided that you have an issue with drug abuse they may make you take a Drug rehabilitation treatment which is aimed at reducing or eliminating dependency on drugs. The length of this treatment can vary and could last up to 2-3 years. This might involve counselling, substitute prescribing or attending a day centre.You may have agreed to treatment in a residential rehabilitation centre.You will be tested regularly to monitor your use of drugs. Your Drug Rehabilitation Requirement starts immediately after you are sentenced

Alcohol Treatment

If the courts have decided that you have an issue with alcohol abuse they may make you take a alcohol rehabilitation treatment which is aimed at reducing or eliminating dependency on alcohol. The length of this treatment can vary and could last up to 2-3 years. This might involve counselling or attending a day centre.

Mental Health Treatment

If the courts have decided that you would benefit from treatment by or under direction of a medical practitioner and/or chartered psychologist, you may have agreed to this. If you od not consent you cannot be forced to take the program of treatment, but this could then involve the courts passing a different sentence which might include a period of custody.  Treatment may be as a resident patient or a care home or hospital.

 

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