New bodies to tackle reoffending rates
1 Nov 05
Executive announces eight new Criminal Justice Authorities
Details on the structure of Scotland's proposed new Criminal Justice Authorities (CJAs) - being set up to reform the way councils and other organisations work together to tackle reoffending - have been announced by the Scottish Executive.
CJAs will distribute funding for criminal justice social work and monitor and report on the effectiveness of joint working between local agencies to tackle reoffending.
Eight Community Justice Authorities will be created under the Management of Offenders (Scotland) etc Bill. They will consist of the following local authorities -
- Glasgow;
- Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen City, Moray, Highland, Orkney, Shetland, Eilean Siar;
- Angus, Dundee City, Perth and Kinross;
- Fife, Clackmannanshire, Falkirk, Stirling;
- City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, West Lothian, Midlothian, Scottish Borders;
- Argyll and Bute, East Dunbartonshire, West Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire, Inverclyde;
- North and South Lanarkshire;
- East, North and South Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway.
The Criminal Justice Plan, published in December 2004, set out proposals for reducing reoffending by improving the management of offenders and ensuring that all organisations providing offenders' services - local authorities and the Scottish Prison Service - work more closely and effectively together.
This includes proposals to create CJAs and this is being taken forward as part of the Management of Offenders Bill, which reaches its stage three deliberations in Parliament on Thursday.
Once established, CJAs will receive the community component of criminal justice funding and be responsible for ensuring this is used effectively across their area to tackle reoffending and improve offender management.
They will be required to work in partnership with police forces within the CJA, NHS boards, voluntary organisations or SPS for their work with offenders and/or their families, the Scottish Court Service, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and Victim Support Scotland. CJAs are expected to be in place in 2006-07.
Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson said: "Criminal Justice Authorities will play an important role in driving forward our criminal justice reforms and improving the way local agencies - councils, SPS and others - work together to tackle Scotland's unacceptably high reoffending rates.
"The proposed structure will also support better local strategic planning and performance, ease communication between Community Justice Authorities and national agencies, particularly SPS, and enable us to ensure an effective national overview and monitoring of the criminal justice system."