Key Highlights :
1. Scots councils have recorded nearly 40,000 unauthorised absences from an alternative punishment to prison over the last five years.
2. Over a third of the 100,000 incidents of absences from offenders carrying out Community Payback Orders were recorded as “unacceptable” - which would be breaches.
3. At the end of last year the backlog of unpaid work through community sentences that offenders in Scotland need to carry out had risen to more than 700,000 hours.
4. Sheriffs can sentence offenders to unpaid work for a wide range of offences as an alternative to prison. But Covid restrictions meant many offenders were unable to complete their CPO hours.
5. More than 250,000 hours of unpaid work were written off.
6. Experts have said that councils were struggling with staff shortages which are restricting the ability to supervise offenders.
7. Despite about 250,000 hours of unpaid work being written off, the backlog has risen again to almost the same level.
8. CPOs can include a range of measures including supervision, drug treatment and unpaid work.
9. Social workers have said that they have been working with ministers to cut the backlog that in some areas they are struggling to recruit and retain staff.
10. Mr Greene added: “Community sentencing is failing victims at every turn on the SNP’s watch. The new SNP justice secretary must finally put victims first, as well as ensuring our cash-strapped councils are given every resource they need to tackle absenteeism.”
The Scottish councils have recorded nearly 40,000 unauthorised absences from an alternative punishment to prison over the last five years. The figures, obtained by the Scottish Liberal Democrats, show that absences from community service have increased by almost 50% since 2010. Labour have called for the punishment to be replaced with a rehabilitation programme.
The Liberal Democrats said that the figures showed that the punishment was not working and that the Scottish Government needed to take action. The party’s justice spokesperson, Willie Rennie, said: “The Scottish Government should be ashamed of these figures. The alternative punishment of community service is not working and the Scottish Government needs to take action to replace it with a rehabilitation programme that works.”
The Scottish Conservatives said that the Liberal Democrats were trying to score political points. The party’s justice spokesperson, Liam Kerr, said: “The Liberal Democrats are trying to score political points by attacking the SNP’s alternative punishment of community service. The SNP has been clear that community service should be a punishment that is used sparingly and only as a last resort.”
