Policy Officer, Community Justice Glasgow
Community Justice Glasgow partners have been monitoring the impact of the extension of the Presumption Against Short Sentences (PASS). This was extended in Scotland on 04/07/19 from three months to 12 months, which means that a sentence of 12 months or less should not be imposed unless the court considers that no other method of dealing with the person is appropriate.
Partners have agreed the levers that the partnership will focus on to support PASS, and have prioritised these:
- Judicial Confidence
- Public Confidence
- Third Sector/Key services (not just justice services)
- A professional, strategic communication plan
- Information Sharing
- Trauma Informed Practice
Communications is key to a number of these levers, including judicial and public confidence. Work is ongoing to promote the positive impacts of Community Based sentences, and new websites for Glasgow City Council and the Glasgow Community Planning Partnership will feature examples of the impact to communities. Local organisations or members of the public can submit a request for those completing Community Payback Orders to undertake unpaid work which is of benefit to the community, where applications are for work that would not be likely to deprive others of opportunities for paid employment.
Stronger links have also been made with Glasgow’s Third Sector, and there are regular Community Justice information sessions with Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector members covering such topics as informing our Community Justice Outcomes Improvement Plan, Hate Crime, the Let’s Get Communities Connected App, providing personal placements for those completing Unpaid Work for Community Payback Orders – you can read more about the Personal Placement work in my Glasgow Health & Social Care Partnership colleague Dierdre’s article ‘Personally Placed to Develop New Employability Skills’.
We are also taking the learning and experience from the Pathfinder to Health Housing and Benefits (PHHaB) Improvement Plan to implement its information sharing arrangements more widely and maximise its opportunities to the benefit of others in the justice system. You can read more about the PHHaB work in an article by Tom Jackson’s (Head of Community Justice) ‘PHHaB Recognition at Brussells Urban Summit’.
The impact of PASS has been difficult to assess given the reduction of court activity during lockdown. However, as Table 1 below demonstrates, PASS has had very little impact to date on the overall prison population. There was a slight reduction at the beginning of 2020-21due to efforts to reduce the prison population through Emergency Early Release to safeguard people living and working in prison. Following this, despite reductions in court activity, the prison population began to increase again.
It is also difficult to assess whether PASS has had any impact on Community Disposals, as opposed to prison. Table 2 below demonstrates that Community Based Sentences reduced greatly following the implementation of PASS, mainly as a result of the impact of COVID-19 restrictions.
Table 2
We will continue to monitor any potential positive impact of PASS, as activity becomes more stable following lockdown arrangements. Meanwhile, we will continue to embed the priorities set by our partners in these improvement plans, ensuring more favourable conditions in the community for people to safely carry out their sentence.