Resource Summary
Crime can be reduced through rigorous sentences served in the community. With the right investment, intensive community sentences can succeed where short prison sentences fail. As well as reducing offending, they can ease pressure on prison places. Currently they fall way short of their potential and there has been a dramatic drop in their use. At the same time, prisons, at 99% of operational capacity, are in effect completely full.
The Government acknowledges the critical prison situation, and it is getting worse. We for our part acknowledge the enormity of the challenge it faces. The use of sentences served in the community has more than halved over recent years. An effective community order can help turn round the life of an offender, providing both treatment and punishment, but the support that is needed is not widely enough provided, or indeed available.
There is an untapped potential for keeping offenders out of prison and supporting them to avoid reoffending. The scope for effective results needs to be better understood, and the good work in the system should be expanded. This needs commitment to increased funding.
In this report, we set out our proposals for making the most out of them
Resource Information
| Format: | report or research |
|---|---|
| Organisation: | House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee |
| Themes: | criminal justice, mental health, physical health and wellbeing, substance misuse |
| Published: | December 2023 |
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