CJS Enforcement Programme
The effective use and enforcement of penalties is crucial to maintaining confidence in the criminal justice system (Public Service Agreement - PSA2). Increasing public confidence ensures that victims and witnesses are more willing to engage with the courts system, and that the public as a whole feels more protected. If the justice system is to be respected, sentences and court orders must be complied with - offenders must realise that they cannot ignore the orders of the court. We aim to do this by ensuring that fines and compensation are paid, community penalties and confiscation orders must be enforced and attendance at court must be seen as compulsory. The National Criminal Justice Board's vision for 2008 is that, 'rigorous enforcement will revolutionise compliance with sentences and orders of the court'. The NCJB has set a number of enforcement targets for Local Criminal Justice Boards in order to achieve this vision.
Financial Penalties
In a concerted effort to increase public confidence and compliance in the first instance, Her Majesty's Courts Service (HMCS) has rolled out a new statutory framework for fine enforcement in the Courts Act 2003 (including compulsory attachment of earnings orders for defaulters and new sanctions for those who default on fines). It also introduced a number of other initiatives aimed at increasing information sharing between departments to aid the tracing of offenders. Longer-term business redesign work is also underway to improve ways of working and further optimise performance.
The tough new fine enforcement regime introduced to crack down on fine defaulters has ensured that the fines payment rate for the 2005/06 financial year hit 83% - exceeding the targets of 81%. The national fines payment rate has been set at 83% for 2006/07 and 85% for 2007/08.
Community Penalties
The Community Penalty and Licence Enforcement Group (CPLEG) has a wide delivery plan in place to secure improvements in community penalty enforcement performance. CPLEG is chaired by NOMS (National Offender Management Service) and is working with HMCS, National Probation Service, Youth Justice Board, Police, electronic monitoring contractors and the Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR). The LCJBs are focussing on efficient and effective processes to list breach cases quickly, reduce adjournments, improve the quality and timeliness of information exchange and improve warrant execution. All areas are required to implement a fast-track process, which ensures that offenders who pose the highest risk to the public are dealt with even more quickly than the standard process. Areas with the poorest performance are being provided with targeted intervention to secure performance improvement.
There are two 2007/08 performance targets relating to community penalty breaches. The first is to achieve an average of 35 working days from the date of the relevant failure to comply, to the resolution of the case. The second community penalty target is to resolve 60% of breaches within 25 working days from the date of the relevant failure to comply.
A new target was introduced in April 2007 to monitor the speed with which offenders who breached their licences following a custodial sentence were returned to custody. In April 2007 this licence recall target was to recall 75% of high risk offenders within 74 hours and 80% of all other offenders within 144 hours from the point of decision to recall to arrest. This target requires the Probation Service, the Public Protection Casework Section within the Ministry of Justice and the Police to co-operate to achieve this level of performance. From April 2008 the targets were altered to 75% for both standard and emergency recalls.
Confiscation Orders
The confiscation order performance and delivery board chaired by the Attorney General's Office deals with improving the enforcement of confiscation orders. The LCJB targets for 2007/08 are to secure in total 3,856 confiscation orders worth £87 million.
Defendant Attendance
Defendant attendance is being addressed through a strategy which has three key elements: improving first-time compliance with bail, increasing the speed and consistency of execution of Failure To Appear warrants when defendants fail to comply with bail, and ensuring that defendants who commit a Bail Act offence by failing to appear are dealt with quickly and robustly for that offence when they are brought back to court. Local targets play an important role in achieving this.
The Courts have been set a target for 2007/08 to notify the police of 90% of FTA warrants within one working day of issue, and 100% within three working days. In the quarter ending March 2008, the Courts notified the police of FTA warrants in 93% of cases within one working day, and 99% were notified within three.
From April 2007, targets have also be introduced for the timeliness of FTA warrant execution. Areas have agreed their own local targets which collectively meet the national standards: 70% of category A warrants to be executed within 14 days, 70% of category B warrants to be executed within 21 days and 60% of category C warrants to be executed within 28 days.
The number of unexecuted FTA warrants was successfully reduced by 52% from March 2005 to the end of March 2008. The latest figures (March 2008) show 25,039 outstanding warrants against a target of 27,325 by end March 2008.
In addition to focussing on these discrete areas of enforcement HMCS is leading on a cross CJS initiative to develop a joined-up approach to delivering sustained and effective enforcement performance.
National Enforcement Service (NES)
A regional pathfinder began in the North West in April 2006 and continues to test new ways of working, including the use of texting and of secure vehicles for the transportation of offenders. Phased national implementation of initiatives commenced in April 2007. Building upon existing enforcement structures, rather than establishing a new organisation, the objective is to maximise the effectiveness of all those involved in compliance and CJS enforcement to produce a service that is highly visible, professional and collaborative.