Probation shakeup could reduce jail numbers

A SYSTEM aimed at assessing the threat of offenders could reduce the number sent to jail, the head of the Probation and Welfare Service (PWS) said yesterday.

From next month the PWS will introduce a systematic risk assessment of all offenders as part of its service to the courts.

This is the first time such a tool - not unlike a psychometric test - will be used to categorise offenders in this jurisdiction.

Principal officer of the PWS, Sean Lowry, said the new tool would be “very valuable” in helping judges decide the most appropriate sentences, by distinguishing between low risk and high risk offenders. “It should be very significant in deciding whether people should go to prison or should be dealt with in the community,” Mr Lowry said.

“It gives a yardstick that can be used to try and influence the number of people sent to prison and the numbers who get community sanctions,” he said.

For every person sent to prison just 1.25 receive some sort of community sanction such as supervised probation, fines or community service orders. This compares to a European average of 2.5 persons for each one person imprisoned, Mr Lowry said.

“There needs to be greater investment in community-based sanctions - I would say it’s possible for us to have less people in prison than we have at the moment,” he said.

The PWS carries out 7,500 pre-sanction reports for the courts each year, recommending whether a custodial sentence would be suitable or not. To date the report has been based solely on the probation officer’s professional opinion.

The new risk assessment tool, called LSRI, has had proven success in other jurisdictions in recommending the optimum intervention for specific offenders.

It works by analysing factors such as the offenders’ character, circumstances, attitudes and motivation to comply with a non-custodial penalty.

Each offender will receive a particular grade that places them in a category of low, medium or high risk.

“There was some degree of subjectivity before and that has served us well, but this is much more scientific,” Mr Lowry said.

“All our staff will be using the same measure to determine the risk a person poses.”

The system is to be introduced from September in all cases where the judge orders a pre-sanction report.