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One new Legal High a week
Many of this group of users of these new drugs are reported to be very reluctant to seek help from traditional treatment services, seeing them as being for “problem” heroin, crack and alcohol users. The report also argues that, with the exception of a few new emerging services (such as the Club Drug Clinic), existing services are not equipped to meet the needs of NPS users, even when they do seek help.

The Justice Data Lab 18 months on
Perhaps the most important factor is the willingness for the MoJ to encourage and promote transparency in identifying what does – and does not – work to prevent reoffending.
Let’s hope this commitment to transparency continues when the new private probation providers start running Community Rehabilitation Companies in April 2015.

Funding cuts for drug and alcohol treatment
In its response to the review, DrugScope, representing service providers, expressed a concern about the current volatility of funding. Drugscope highlighted PHE ADPH drugs alcohol commissioning 2014 the continuous drive to reassess and retender services, and the need for commissioners to understand the impact frequent tendering processes have on providers (see this post for an alternative model).

London’s gun crime
Hidden in the text of the article is the rather less sensational and more welcome finding that gun crime has been falling rapidly with only 127 shots fired in the first half of 2014 with just one related death. What is perhaps most startling is the way that the police have reduced shootings without entering into a gun battle with criminals.

MoJ vows to do more for victims
Perhaps the most concrete of the commitments in this document is the plan to consult on a new compensation system which would mean that victims received compensation on conviction, rather than having to wait for months and years “as and when the offender is able to pay.”

Families are key to offender resettlement
The report found that too often, family relationships are seen simply as a matter of visits which may be increased or reduced according to an offender’s behaviour. There was no evidence that families were involved in sentence planning for instance, even when an offender said they were relying on them for support after release.
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