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Annex D: Sentencing Options - Current Disposals Available to the Courts
Levels of Court and Sentencing Powers in Scotland
There are four different levels of court within Scotland. We have the High Court, Sheriff and Jury Court, Sheriff Summary Court and District Courts (which in some areas of Scotland are now called Justice of the Peace Courts). Each of these levels of court have different maximum sentencing limits - these are noted below:
High Court - unlimited imprisonment and unlimited fines. All community sentences apart from Supervised Attendance Orders.
Sheriff and Jury - up to 5 years' imprisonment and unlimited fines. All community sentences.
Sheriff Summary (which means the sheriff sits alone and decides both guilt/innocence and sentence) - up to 12 months' imprisonment and fines of up to £10k. All community sentences.
District/JP Courts84 - up to 60 days imprisonment and fines of up to £2.5k. Able to use Probation Orders and Supervised Attendance Orders.
Community Sentencing
Scotland currently has one of the most extensive ranges of alternatives to custody in Europe. Listed below are the main community sentences (alternatives to custody) available in Scotland.
Probation Remains the standard and most frequently used community disposal. The main purpose of probation is to work with offenders to prevent or reduce their reoffending by combining oversight and control with help to learn new behaviours and to deal with problems associated with offending (rehabilitation). Probation Orders can be used very flexibly by the courts and additional conditions can be attached to them, for example: requiring the offender to undertake unpaid work; imposing an electronic monitoring requirement; requiring financial recompense to the victim or attendance at a specialist programme such as alcohol or drug treatment. An offender can be placed on probation for a period of between 6 months and 3 years. 8,400 probation orders were made in 2005/06.
Community Service Orders85 Legislation restricts Community Service Orders to convictions which would otherwise have resulted in a sentence of imprisonment or detention. An offender given a community service order is required to carry out unpaid work of benefit to the community for between 80 and 240 hours in summary proceedings and 300 hours in solemn proceedings. Work placements, which are organised and supervised by local authority staff take many forms. Approximately 5,900 community service orders were imposed by courts in 2005/06.
Supervised Attendance Orders:SAOs are intended as an alternative to custody for fine defaulters (people who do not or cannot pay court imposed fines). They have been available nationally since 1998. The philosophy of the SAO is a fine on time. The participant is required to undertake a programme of activities which aim to stimulate the constructive use of time and can include an educative element or involve unpaid work in the community. Offenders who do not meet the terms of the Order are subject to disciplinary proceedings and may find themselves back in court facing a custodial sentence. The maximum number of hours for one order is 100, to be completed within 12 months. In 2005/06, 3,849 SAOs were made by courts.
Restriction of Liberty Orders ('Tagging'): Restriction of Liberty Orders ( RLOs) have been available to courts across Scotland since May 2002. They were piloted in Scotland from 1997, and a positive evaluation led to the decision by Ministers to make the Order available throughout Scotland. The offender, who must be 16 or over, may be restricted to a particular place or places for up to 12 hours per day for up to 12 months. Compliance with the order is electronically monitored by a commercial contractor by means of an unobtrusive transmitter (tag) worn by the offender on his or her ankle. 984 RLOs were imposed in 2005/06.
Drug Treatment and Testing Orders: The Drug Treatment and Testing Order offers an intensive regime of drug treatment and testing with regular review by the courts. It targets those people whose offending is linked to their drug problem - for example those who steal to fund their drug habit. The intention of a DTTO is to help offenders overcome a drug addiction, thereby reducing or eliminating the need to offend. Offenders subject to a DTTO are required to undertake regular drug testing and treatment. They also reappear before a Sheriff every month to account for their behaviour. DTTOs are available in the High Court and Sheriff Courts throughout Scotland.
An independent evaluation of the Drug Treatment and Testing Order pilots found it to be effective in tackling the kind of substance misuse that can lead to involvement in crime - for example, after six months on an Order, average expenditure on drugs decreased from an average of £490 per week pre-sentence to an average of £57 per week. The evaluation, 'Drug Treatment & Testing Orders - Evaluation of Scottish Pilots', is available at www.scotland.gov.uk/cru/kd01/green/dtts-00.asp . A more recent evaluation of the longer-term impacts of DTTOs found that the order was having a very positive impact upon reoffending rates. For example, after two years almost half of offenders subject to an order had no further convictions. This is a major achievement given the offenders who receive a DTTO will usually have a long history of criminal behaviour with many previous convictions and custodial sentences. This full evaluation report can be read at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/cru/resfinds/rfdt-00.asp .
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