Matheson announces new justice strategy

A new strategy seeking to break the cycle of offending by strengthening community justice has been announced by Justice Secretary Michael Matheson.

The new approach is intended to tackle offending through early intervention, identify the reasons why people offend in the first place, and “help people reintegrate into the community after custody”.

Developed with local authorities, health boards, justice agencies, the third sector, victims groups and people with convictions, the strategy will “strengthen the way public services, charities and communities work together to reduce and prevent offending”.

The strategy supports Scotland’s new model for community justice which comes into effect from 1 April 2017.

Mr Matheson said: “Early intervention is the key to preventing crime in Scotland’s communities and tackling social inequality is at the heart of our new approach. Better access to welfare, housing, health and education will all help break the cycle of crime and keep our communities safe.

“By improving our community justice system we are offering more chances for people to tackle the underlying reasons for their offending and reduce the chances of them going on to offend again.

“Through our joint efforts we will also be improving the way victims of crime and their families experience the justice system, helping them access the right services at the right time.

“This strategy, which has received widespread support, is an important step forward for community justice in Scotland. We now must all work together and tackle the key issues that contribute to offending behaviour.”

Care Inspectorate chief executive, Karen Reid, added: “We were commissioned by the Scottish government to develop a new guide to self-evaluation to help partners in their efforts to strive for continuous improvement and excellence across community justice services.

“We were asked to undertake this piece of work based on our experience and knowledge in this area, and it has been a very successful example of stimulating true collaboration across a range of key partners. It is designed as a useful tool to help partners ask some key questions of themselves and ultimately help them improve the quality of services across Scotland.

“We hope the guide offers a useful approach for partners in striving for excellence in community justice, and will also serve statutory partners and third sector partners as a guide for planning and achieving positive outcomes for those with lived experience of community justice.”