Reoffending and diversion from custody for women offenders
| DOI | 10.1177/026455051205900201 |
| Author | Becky Shepherd |
| Date | 01 June 2012 |
| Published date | 01 June 2012 |
| Subject Matter | Research & reports |
these meetings was too often on exchanging information about the offender as opposed
to the active management of their risk. This was closely linked to concerns that MAPPA
was not balancing the (necessary) restrictive interventions with the development of
protective factors and a clear focus on preparing for the eventual completion of
supervision. Improvements in the quality of minutes was deemed to be very important in
order to evidence defensible decision making. Too often minutes were found to be out-
of-date, inaccurate and poorly written.
The audit of the ViSOR records highlighted a range of areas for improvement and
the useof this system was found to be inconsistentacross both the policeand probation,
not least because of difficulties in accessing the system by probation practitioners.
Informationrecordedwas not always of the requisitestandard and thesewere assessed
as damaging to the possibility of ViSOR being adopted as a national systemto effec-
tively manage those offenders posing a risk of harm. A raft of proposals were high-
lightedto improve the operationof this system,with particular attentionpaid to the need
for agenciesto establish appropriatemonitoring of the use of ViSOR and adherenceto
its standards.
Whilst theinspection report proposes a rangeof interventions and improvementsto
address the above deficits, it does offer some positive conclusion and recognizes the
centraland necessary role MAPPA plays in the managementof those offenders posing
the most serious riskof harm. It highlighted that in two thirds of cases riskof harm had
been kept to a minimum, the MAPPA level had decreased in over half of cases, the
majority of offenders had not reoffended and victims and potential victims had been
protected in most cases. However, it wasrecognized that these achievementsshould
have occurredin a higher number of casesand that much needed to be doneto ensure
that MAPPA reached itsfull potential.
Reference
NOMS (2009) MAPPA Guidance 2009 Version 3.0
Criminal Justice Joint Inspection: Thematic Inspection Report, Putting the Pieces Together:
An Inspection of Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (2011) can be
downloaded at: http://www.justice.gov.uk/about/hmi-probation
Laura Rawlinson
Greater Manchester Probation Trust
Reoffending and diversion from custody for women
offenders
This Ministry of Justice research assesses the Together Women (TW) support service,
offered in Liverpool, Salford, Doncaster, Leeds and Bradford. The centres’ remit was
Research & reports 167
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