Delaying action until the resource position is easier is not an option. Unless progress is made, young people will continue to die unnecessarily in our prisons and we will continue to waste countless millions of pounds in failing to rehabilitate those who could be rehabilitated
The latest (25 June 2015) Criminal Court Statistics, which cover January to March 2015, shows just why the new Justice Secretary Michael Gove is so keen to reform the system. The legal process continues to get slower.
Drug consumption rooms are currently the subject of political discussion in some European countries as calls for their implementation are debated. As frontline, low-threshold services, drug consumption rooms are often among the first to gain insights into new drug use patterns and thus they also have a role to play in the early identification of new and emerging trends among the high-risk populations using their services.
New Office for National Statistics data shows big drop in young people’s binge drinking but big regional variations. 5 key trends highlighted on ONS digital channel…
Are the NAO’s features a copper-bottomed guarantee of an effective PbR scheme? Or are you more in agreement with me that the attraction of PbR is the chance to move away from the straight-jacket of contemporary procurement and stimulate fresh approaches, under-written by the knowledge that if a provider fails, the commissioner doesn’t have to pay?
National Offender Management Service has published its annual report and accounts for 2014/15. What does it tell us?
An intriguing first speech from new Justice Secretary Michael Gove sets out a vision of “one nation justice policy.” The tone and content were so striking that the Guardian was moved to write an editorial sub-titled: “hope at last for penal reform?”
The most recent EMCDDA estimate suggests that almost 1% Europeans use cannabis daily or almost daily (defined as 20 days or more per month). Since 2008, cannabis use is the main reason that Europeans enter drug treatment for the first time. Over this time, the number of first-time cannabis clients has risen markedly and cannabis users represent around half a more of all service users entering drug treatment in Cyprus, Denmark, France, Hungary and the Netherlands.
Professor Brooker concludes with a plea that both the National Probation Service and the new private Community Rehabilitation Companies should be equipping their staff with training to at least recognise mental health disorders and to take some action in attempting to connect probationers to existing services.
PbR schemes are typically targeted at intractable, multi-faceted social problems with the hope that an outcome-focused approach will encourage innovation and more holistic responses. If government departments cannot even co-ordinate their commissioning around PbR, it will be very difficult for providers to design and deliver new solutions.
The researchers come to the very fair conclusion that PbR is not a straightforward guarantee of improving performance in drug and alcohol recovery. Although previous studies have shown that PbR can drive some limited improvements in quality, this study unambiguously found that: “the introduction of payment for outcomes had a significant, negative impact on successful treatment completion.”
IDPC argues that women drug users experience greater stigma and discrimination, as they are often perceived to be ‘fallen women’. Their lack of decision-making power and economic resources, as well as vulnerability to physical and sexual violence heightens the risk of HIV, Hep C and other blood-borne viruses.
