Offenders to face harsher ‘payback’

A national initiative that will see tougher community punishments handed out by the courts is to be piloted in Greater Manchester.

Justice Minister David Hanson has announced plans for harsher and more intense penalties for offenders ordered to carry out work such as litter picking, clearing undergrowth and scrubbing graffiti as part of the Tackling Knives Action Programme.

Anyone convicted of a knife-related offence who is unemployed and sentenced to the maximum 300 hours of community payback from the courts will complete their sentence in intensive blocks of up to five days a week.

The measures follow the recent announcement by Prime Minister Gordon Brown that community payback for offenders would be tough, visible and effective.

Mr Hanson also highlighted the fact that more offenders are currently “paying back” the community through work at weekends when they expect to have free time, with 74 per cent of programmes running on either Saturday or Sunday.

He added: “Offenders sentenced to ‘pay’ for their crimes within the community can already expect to work hard and lose much of their free time.

“By introducing intensive five-days-a-week payback for many knife crime offenders we are further toughening these punishments.

“Initially the change will affect the small number of knife offenders who are given the longest community payback sentences instead of custody by magistrates, but we are also announcing a pilot to assess the suitability and success of extending this over time to a much wider range of offenders.

“It is important that the public can see and influence the work that is being carried out by offenders in their neighbourhoods. This is crucial to ensure that there is confidence in community sentences.

“The public can already suggest projects for offenders to work on to their local probation office and we are intending to set up community panels linked closely to local communities which will further enable members of the public to propose work projects for offenders in their local area.”

Last year there were 55,771 completions of community payback across England and Wales, providing over six million hours of free labour for communities.

Research has shown that community punishments can be more effective than prison sentences.

The latest figures show the re-offending rate following a custodial sentence is 60 per cent while the rate following community work is 38 per cent.

The scheme will also be piloted in London, Essex, Lancashire, West Yorkshire, Merseyside, the West Midlands, Nottinghamshire, South Wales and Thames Valley.