Probation staff are keeping reoffending rates down

WORK to prevent criminals from re-offending in South Yorkshire has been classed as ‘credible’ by inspectors who reviewed the county’s probation service staff.

The report is part of a three year inspection programme which began in 2009, during which all prison and probation trusts are assessed.

Sally Lester, assistant chief inspector of probation, said a sample of cases were examined.

“We judged that the work to keep to a minimum each individual’s risk of harm to others was done well enough 81 per cent of the time,” she said.

“The work to make each individual less likely to re-offend was done well enough 82 per cent of the time. Work to maximise compliance and enforcement was done well enough 84 per cent of the time.

“We also found the trust had a strong commitment to practice improvement and there was generally good work being done with offenders to protect the public and reduce re-offending, including in some difficult and demanding cases.”

Examples from the report also showed the work the trust does to ensure offenders realise the impact their actions have on victims.

It also noted that almost all offenders in the community said they had a good working relationship with their offender manager, and their offender manager listened to what they had to say.

The report’s findings have been welcomed by South Yorkshire Probation Trust.

Roz Brown, the trust’s chief executive, said the report shows it is protecting the public and making communities across South Yorkshire safer places by reducing reoffending rates.

“This inspection puts us as one of the top trusts in the country and demonstrates the high quality of service our staff deliver in order to achieve our reducing reoffending figure of -12.69 per cent against a national average of 0.01 percent,” she said.

The report is available to read in full online by visiting www.justice.gov.uk

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