Recommendation 111

We heard that “there is a plethora of pilot schemes all over the place”, some of which are designed to create such incentives. 209 Dr Abramovaite explained that, sometimes, police forces “do not know themselves what they are running” because they are running “hundreds” of schemes. 210 Tom Franklin told us that “there is a feeling that these schemes never really go anywhere”. He regretted the “very large amount of wasted effort” as these schemes “are rarely scaled up”. 211 Transform Justice expressed concerns that programmes, whether accredited by the Probation Service or not, are rarely evaluated. 212 These issues could be explained by the perception that schemes “are often set up because of the initiative of an individual”, whose goodwill may be insufficient for the scheme to gain scale. 213 Examples of schemes we heard about included: The Choices and Consequences (C2) programme, run since 2007 by Hertfordshire Constabulary. It was described to us as “a comprehensive reformative programme offered jointly by the Hertfordshire Police and Probation Services, and the Crown Court which is designed to safeguard the public by changing the attitudes and behaviour of offenders and detecting and reducing offending.” 214 Eligible people (adult ‘prolific’ offenders with addiction issues) are expected to “admit to the entirety of their past offending” to show commitment, in exchange for which “they are sentenced to a comprehensive rehabilitative programme in the community, closely monitored by the Court over a three-to-four-year period”. 215 It has, however, been criticised for involving the use of polygraph testing “outside the current statutory framework which governs the use of the polygraph for offender management”. 216 The “Prolific Intensive” package initiated in 2017 by the Bedfordshire probation team and Bedfordshire Police. Eligible people (typically “3rd strike burglars who usually have entrenched history of drug use”) are released on bail for six weeks, during which they must engage with “a trial run Community Order”. If they engage positively, Probation “will propose an intensive three-year Community Order as an alternative to custody”, usually involving unpaid work, a treatment requirement, and monthly court reviews, among other requirements. 217 The “problem-solving court” approach adopted by Manchester & Salford Magistrates Court since 2014, by all Manchester Magistrates’ Courts since 2017, and by Greater Manchester Crown Courts since 2019. Eligible people (women with “multiple support needs” who have offended at a level around the custodial threshold) are sentenced to a community order and are invited to regular, informal review hearings. 218