Call for Evidence

The Justice and Home Affairs Committee is conducting an inquiry into community sentences. When Courts issue a “community order”, they set out one or more requirements imposed on an adult offender, who will serve their sentence in the community. The requirements are activities selected from a statutory list of 16 options. Most community sentences must entail a punitive and a rehabilitative component.

The Committee is considering practical aspects related to the use and delivery of community sentences. It is interested to assess trends in their use (downwards or otherwise) and to identify both barriers to their use and best practices in their delivery. It seeks to understand the range of activities available across England and Wales and to assess the extent and impact of local disparities in the availability of such activities.

The Committee is intending to focus on community orders specifically. While it acknowledges that considerations related to restorative justice and to other sentences spent in the community—such as suspended custodial sentences or being released on parole—may occasionally be of relevance, the Committee would like to concentrate on community orders.

The Committee is interested to hear about the experiences and opinions of the various actors of the criminal justice system encountering community sentences. This includes, among others, offenders, ex-offenders, victims, sentencers, probation officers, and private or third-sector organisations involved in the delivery of community sentences.

You should be careful not to comment on individual cases currently before a court of law or matters in respect of which court proceedings are imminent. We cannot publish submissions that mention ongoing legal cases due to Parliament’s sub judice rule—contact us before making a submission if you are not sure what this means for you.

Written submissions are requested by 23:59 (BST) on Thursday 15 June 2023.

Questions

The Committee welcomes views on the following questions. Respondents are invited to answer the question(s) of their choice. Respondents are equally welcome to flag the importance of other issues relevant to the inquiry that are not covered in these questions.

These questions predominantly relate to England and Wales. The Committee, however, is interested in comparisons with Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as in international comparisons, and welcomes evidence on community sentences (or equivalents thereto) in those jurisdictions that could inform the Committee’s consideration of policies for England and Wales.

Historical trends

1.How have the numbers of community orders handed down to offenders evolved over time? Why, and with what consequences?

2. How has the volume of offenders supervised by the Probation Service in relation to a community order evolved over time? How does this relate to the evolution of the number of community orders handed down to offenders? How has this impacted on the supervision of sentences?

3. What are the attitudes of sentencers towards community sentences? How have these attitudes evolved over time and what shapes them?

Delivery of community sentences

4. What are the main obstacles to the effective delivery of community sentences? What are the best practices for the delivery of community sentences?

5. How effective is cooperation between the Probation Service, on one hand, and the NHS and private or third-sector organisations, on the other? How successful are they at meeting the demand for all 16 requirements?

6. What practical activities are available as community sentences? Are there any disparities in the availability of activities across England and Wales and, if so, why? We welcome local insights and reviews of activities on offer in various areas.

7. Taking into account their respective impact on reoffending behaviour, which of community sentences and short-term custodial sentences is more cost-effective? Please explain.

Impact on the community

8 How effective are community sentences at reducing recidivism? Which of the 16 requirements, if any, are effective? Why?

9. Community sentences entail a punitive and a rehabilitative component. How do offenders experience these two components? Do different cohorts of offenders, such as female offenders, experience them differently?

10. What are the attitudes of the public, in general, and victims, in particular, towards community sentences?

Guidance for Submissions 

Who can submit evidence?

This is a public call for evidence. Everyone is welcome to submit evidence. Please bring it to the attention of other groups and individuals who may have an interest in the Committee’s inquiry.

Diversity comes in many forms and hearing a range of different perspectives means that committees are better informed and can more effectively scrutinise public policy and legislation. Committees can undertake their role most effectively when they hear from a wide range of individuals, sectors or groups in society affected by a particular policy or piece of legislation. We encourage anyone with experience or expertise of an issue under investigation by a select committee to share their views with the Committee, with the full knowledge that their views have value and are welcome.

 How can evidence be submitted?

Written evidence should be submitted online using the submission form. All submissions made through the online submission form will be acknowledged automatically by email. If you do not have access to a computer, you may submit a paper copy to:

Clerk to the Justice and Home Affairs Committee

Committee Office, House of Lords,

London SW1A 0PW

 What should submissions contain?

Written submissions must not be no longer than four sides of A4. Long submissions should include a summary. Paragraphs should be numbered. Submissions should be dated, with a note of the author’s name, and of whether the author is acting on an individual or corporate basis. All submissions made through the online submission form will be acknowledged automatically by email.

 What happens to the written evidence once submitted?

Personal contact details supplied to the Committee will be removed from submissions before publication but will be retained by the Committee staff for specific purposes relating to the Committee’s work, such as seeking additional information.

Submissions become the property of the Committee which will decide whether to accept them as evidence. Evidence may be published by the Committee at any stage. It will normally appear on the Committee’s website and will be deposited in the Parliamentary Archives. Once you have received acknowledgement that your submission has been accepted as evidence, you may publicise or publish it yourself, but in doing so you must indicate that it was prepared for the Committee. If you publish your evidence separately, you should be aware that you will be legally responsible for its content.

In certain circumstances, the Committee may be prepared to publish written evidence on an anonymous basis. If you would like to submit evidence on this basis, you should first discuss this with the Clerk to the Committee.

Certain individuals and organisations may be invited to appear in person before the Committee to give oral evidence. Oral evidence is usually given in public and broadcast online. Persons invited to give oral evidence will be notified separately of the procedure to be followed and the topics likely to be discussed.

 Learn more

To find out more about how to submit written evidence and how the Committee will use your submission, please consult our list of How to guides. More specifically, you may want to consult our Guidance on giving evidence to a Select Committee of the House of Lords, which notably includes a privacy notice. You can also follow the progress of our inquiry on our website or by following us on Twitter (@LordsJHACom).

Substantive communications to the Committee about the inquiry should be addressed through the Clerk, whether or not they are intended to constitute formal evidence to the Committee. You can contact the Clerk at HLJusticeHomeAffairs@parliament.uk or at 020 7219 6099.