Court orders

A Community Payback Order brings together a range of options to balance punishment with areas of the individual’s life which need to change.

A Community Payback Order serves the following objectives:

• Achieve a positive impact on individuals
• Require individuals to make payback to the community.
• Replace an unnecessary complex range of community sentences and increase public understanding.
• Ensure the level of intervention matches the level of assessed risk.
• Create a robust and consistently delivered community sentence, ensuring public confidence and credibility.

The use of other agencies to implement Community Payback Orders is beneficial to the community and for the individuals who have offended and who come to our attention.

Community Payback Orders also provide the Court with credible and robust alternative to custodial sentences.

What do offenders have to do?

Offenders could be asked to:

• Carry out hours of unpaid work in the community
• Be subject to periods of supervision
• Specific conduct requirements to address re-offending
• Pay compensation to the victim or victims
• Participate in alcohol, drug or mental health treatment interventions
• Have their conduct and behaviour monitored by Criminal Justice social workers
• Identify work and training opportunities

How will this help the community?

Offenders will be required to carry out unpaid work in the community. This could include:

• Clearing pathways of snow or ice
• Building eco-plant areas for school children
• Repainting community centres or churches
• Market gardening and distributing the produce to care homes and local charities
• Creation and maintenance of community allotment sites
• Supporting local food banks

A Drug Treatment and Testing Order (DTTO) is an intensive Justice Order that specifically targets the reduction of illicit drug use by the offender.

By reducing the offender’s use of illicit drugs it is expected there will be a significant reduction in offending behaviour.

DTTOs are carried out by multi-agency teams and involve cognitive behavioural and holistic treatments for addiction.

The intensive nature of these Orders has categorised them as high tariffs and an alternative to custody.

Suitability for Drug Treatment and Testing Order

A Drug Treatment and Testing Order can only be imposed where the court is satisfied that:

• The offender is dependent on or has a propensity to misuse drugs
• The dependency or propensity requires and may be susceptible to treatment
• The offender is a suitable person to be subject to an order.

There is no legal definition of a suitable person, but guidance suggests that suitability is determined by such factors as:

• motivation to address drug dependency
• sufficient stability of location and circumstances to enable both supervision and treatment to take effect.

What happens under a Drug Treatment and Testing Order

• Regular drug testing is integral to the Order
• Monthly review by the sentencers throughout the Order
• Direct relationship between offender and sentencer
• Further offence is not an automatic breach
• Greater emphasis on drug treatment, rather than a specific offence-focused approach, as the primary means of reducing offending and promoting social inclusion.

Drug Treatment and Testing Order’s can be revoked by the sentencer at the offenders court review or by submission of breach by the supervising officer if the offender fails to comply with any of the following conditions of the Drug Treatment and Testing Order:

• To submit to treatment as a non-resident by or under the direction of Fife Council (the “Treatment Provider”) at Kirkcaldy Drug Treatment and Testing Team with a view to the reduction or elimination of dependency on/or propensity to misuse drugs
• To conform to the directions of the supervising officer and the treatment provider
• To inform the supervising officer immediately of any change of address
• To provide samples, of any description, at any time, in any circumstances, that the treatment provider may determine for the purpose of testing whether the offender has any drugs in their body
• To keep in touch with the supervising officer as instructed from time to time by that officer
• To attend each review hearing
• That the offender provides three samples per month

Structured Deferred Sentence (SDS) aims to provide a structured intervention for individuals upon conviction and prior to final sentencing.

They are generally used for people in the justice system with a range of complex needs that may be addressed through social work and/or multi-agency intervention but without the need for a court order.

SDS offers the opportunity for Justice Social Work services and key partners to directly provide and tailor interventions for individuals. This may include:

• components of risk-taking behaviour
• decision-making and victim impact
• interventions to address identified need

SDS is used in a variety of ways and can provide a flexible and effective intervention that can help prevent individuals who have offended from becoming further drawn into the justice system.

An SDS can also address the underlying causes of offending and contribute to safer and fairer communities for all.

SDS, in some cases, could be more appropriate than the imposition of a longer-term disposal such as a Community Payback Order (CPO), particularly for those where a short-term intervention would more appropriately address areas of risk and need.

It could also be of benefit to those who may find it more difficult to manage the requirements of a CPO or Drug Treatment and Testing Order (DTTO), and reduce the risk, and associated impact of, non-compliance and breaches associated with statutory orders.

It may also provide an opportunity for individuals to stabilise their circumstances and assess their motivation and ability to comply with a period of statutory supervision. Again, this potentially reduces the risk of future breaches and provides an alternative to short periods of custody.

In all cases, structured intervention may include up to three contacts per week, which may include contact with 3^rd party agencies and will be monitored by Justice Services.