Niacro

NIACRO works to reduce crime and its impact on people and communities

NIACRO’S  REPONSE TO CONSULTATION ON THE DRAFT GUIDANCE ON PUBLIC PROTECTION ARRANGEMENTS NORTHERN IRELAND.

1.INTRODUCTION

The Northern Ireland Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NIACRO) is a voluntary organisation, which has been working for over 35 years to reduce crime and its impact on people and communities. NIACRO provides services which promote safer communities; work with children and young people who offend; provide services to families and children of offenders; support offenders and ex-prisoners in the community and work with prisoners.

NIACRO has link with all key criminal justice agencies in Northern Ireland and also relates to other bodies/organisations in the voluntary, community and private sectors.

NIACRO welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Draft Guidance on Public Protection Arrangements Northern Ireland given that the organisation works with individuals who will be subject to these arrangements.

2.COMMENTARY

NIACRO broadly welcomes the guidelines and believes, in general terms they can significantly contribute to increased public protection. However, we would wish to make the following points:

a)With regard to 2.6 where identification of relevant offenders introduces the phased conclusion of those convicted of “hate crimes” by 2011. What is of concern is the scope to include “potentially dangerous” persons at the early stage of the process. i.e. “reported with a view to prosecution”. This is particularly in relation to a suspected violent offence, given that there is a wide range of violent offences which can occur. This seems to be casting quite a wide net as part of the process.

b)In section 4.1 concerning disclosure there is reference here to the “expectation of those voluntary and private sector services, who engage with offenders on behalf of PPANI agencies”…. that a “service level agreement” will be part of the sub - contracting arrangement …etc. In respect of individuals cases, working relationships between the statutory and voluntary sectors may not be carried out within the context of a “sub contracting” arrangement and it may be appropriately to look more broadly at developing Service Level Agreements which are not specifically linked to one aspect of service delivery within the voluntary sector.

c)Under section 5.3 – Risk assessment, NIACRO expects to make a contribution to the dynamic risk assessment of some offenders being reviewed by LAPPP and opportunities for staff training in approaches to risk assessment will continue to be a necessary aspect of that role.

d)Risk Management in section 6.6 proposes the establishment of a collated “public protection team” to deliver risk management plans for the category 3 / higher risk offender. This may be cost effective, but could perhaps increase the risk of failure in communication across agencies – even though the LAPPP would “have oversight” of the work. In addition, the dynamic nature of risk assessment should allow for cases to be “re- categorised” to the lower level 2 and this would imply a transfer of the case away from the public protection team – which may not be helpful.

e)NIACRO welcomes the proposed structure / agenda for LAPPP meetings referred to in section 7.6. Furthermore, NIACRO welcomes the intention to link with cases at the early stage of custody, developing specific plans prior to release and that these plans should reflect the involvement of the range of “resettlement” services delivering “supportive and integrative approaches”.

f)Section 9 is concerned with the strategic oversight of PPANI particularly the Strategic Management Board. It is proposed that the SMB should involve others in its work when needed referencing the voluntary sector and other statutory agencies in terms of a “Victim” perspective. There is also a range of voluntary sector organisations, such as NIACRO, working with offenders, with their families and with the communities in which they live. NIACRO would welcome the opportunity to contribute to the work of the SMB in appropriate circumstances.

3.CONCLUSION

This is a complex set of statutory guidelines and is therefore important that they be subject to regular intensive review and that some thought be given to develop a communications strategy with the general public as a focus. There is a clear need to develop public confidence with respect to criminal justice in general and public protection arrangements in particular.