Bid to reduce re-offending

Sep 25 2008 by Mark Cowan, Birmingham Mail

CROOKS posing the biggest risk to the Birmingham public are to be placed under strict controls to stop them re-offending.

They must also apologise to their victims.

Probation West Midlands is pioneering a new intensive control programme to target criminals who repeatedly commit offences.

They might not warrant a lengthy prison sentence, so probation chiefs have drawn up a programme to take them off the streets and tackle their behaviour.

If offenders breach the plans they face a fast-track path back to court.

Under the Intensive Community Control Programme now being trialled in the West Midlands, they are placed in a hostel under curfew for three months where their behaviour can be tackled.

A major plank of the project is to get offenders to consider the impact of crime on their victims.

West Midlands Probation chief officer Mike Maiden said: “It’s a specific programme for a small number of offenders at high risk of re-offending. There is a range of interventions including mediation with victims of crime.

“There could be a meeting if victims feel it would help, but it’s more about working with offenders to understand the victim’s perspective and get them to a point of apologising.

“That is important to victims, who might be wondering why the crime happened to them.”

Research shows that a significant proportion of crime is committed by a small number of habitual offenders.

But short prison sentences are shown to have little impact on their re-offending rates because there is little time to tackle their behaviour.

Mr Maiden said the ICCP, which is a sentence imposed by judges or magistrates, was not a soft-touch option and had a better chance of succeeding.