Recommendation 109

Witnesses were particularly concerned about “putting people into situations where they have multiple appointments that they need to keep which they fail to do so”: it can result in them being found in breach of their sentence and recalled before a Court, where they face an additional sentence. 203 We were told that “research indicates that over-programming (e.g. too many or too onerous rehabilitative requirements) individuals who are assessed as low risk of reoffending sets them up to fail”. 204 Tom Franklin agreed: “there could be low-level but prolific offenders who live very chaotic lifestyles, find it very difficult to turn up regularly to things and really struggle with that. That would nullify their involvement in particular schemes. Sometimes it is almost like, if they did them, they would be set up to fail because they would find themselves in breach, have to come back and end up in that cycle back into court.” 205