Criminal Justice

Drug/alcohol addiction is a complex but treatable condition. Addicts use drugs and/or alcohol compulsively, damaging themselves and those around them. Unfortunately drug and alcohol misuse often goes hand in hand with poor health, homelessness, family breakdown and offending. Please see the National Treatment Agency's Why Invest? (PDF 328 KB) presentation for more information.

Tackling Drug and Alcohol Misuse reduces crime, which saves money and makes communities safer, so it is important to ensure that people have access to treatment and recovery opportunities in the community, and at all points in the criminal justice system. Please click on the links below for more information:

Services available

• Prison Substance Misuse
• Probation
• Drug Intervention Programme (DIP)
• Alcohol Criminal Justice Interventions Team (ACJIT)
• Community Safety Partnership's (CSPs)
• Youth Offending Service (YOS)
• Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC)

Prison Substance Misuse Services

Drug treatment in prison has changed dramatically over the last few years with the introduction of Integrated Drug treatment Service into HMP Hewell and HMP Long Lartin.

The service can now offer an assessment of health needs which if required will lead to a period of stabilisation and depending on the length of sentence progress onto a maintenance or detox regime. In conjunction with this clinical service is the CARAT Team which provides the psychosocial support that is vital during a difficult time (CARAT = Counselling, Assessment, Referral, Advice & Throughcare). They can offer 1:1 work, group work, linking with other agencies and most importantly arranging support in the community for those offenders that are shortly due for release. For those that are facing a longer time in custody we have two accredited drug treatment programmes that offenders can be referred too. These both look at how drug use has affected somebody's offending and its effect on others. Both courses also offer advice on how to deal with difficult situations that offenders may face when back in the community.

As part of the Governments October 2010 spending review, responsibility for the funding of all substance misuse treatment for offenders in England and Wales was transferred from the Ministry of Justice to the Department of Health from 1^st April 2011.

Following this change Worcestershire County Council has now commissioned a substance misuse service to meet the needs of the offenders in both Worcestershire Prisons. The service reflects the recommendations from the Patel report and provides treatments for all substances including alcohol.

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Probation

West Mercia Probation Trust provides probation supervision, offending behaviour programmes and specialist support services which can stop people committing further offences.

The Offender Substance Abuse Programme – OSAP is a specialised programme designed to raise awareness of the link between substance misuse and offending and to equip offenders with the skills to enable them to reduce or stop substance misuse, thus reducing offending.

Approximately 30 probation staff work in West Mercia's six prisons. Click on Probation work in prisons for more information on the important role probation staff play in preparing prisoners for release and planning resettlement.

A Drug Rehabilitation Requirement (DRR) is a community based penalty for people who have committed high levels of crime to support their drug use. It has replaced a similar penalty called the Drug Treatment and Testing Order (DTTO). Worcestershire Pathways to Recovery tests and treats drug use as part of this sentence from the court.

• You can find more information about DRRs at the Hiwecanhelp website. 
  

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Drug Intervention Programme (DIP)

The Drug Interventions Programme (DIP), within Worcestershire Pathways to Recovery, supports alcohol and substance users involved in the criminal justice system

DIP Provides…

• Structured treatment interventions such as specialist prescribing and structured drug work
• Community psychiatric nurse access
• Close work with local prisons to engage with those being released from prison.
• Close work with criminal justice agencies such as the court to support required assessment and restriction on bail packages.
• Access to employment training and education, and housing advice.
• Preparation for service users to move onto a longer term recovery pathway that specifically suits their needs

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Alcohol Criminal Justice Interventions Team (ACJIT)

Worcestershire Alcohol Criminal Justice Interventions Team (ACJIT) was launched in April 2007. It provides two sessions of brief intervention to individuals who have committed an alcohol-related offence, with the aim of:

• Reducing the likelihood of further alcohol-related offences being committed
• Improving attendee’s health and social functioning
• Providing a pathway into structured treatment where appropriate

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Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs)

Community Safety is more than just preventing crime and disorder. It is fundamentally about delivering local solutions to local problems that have been identified by local people.

Worcestershire County Council's Community safety team will work with a broad range of partners across public, private and voluntary sectors, to deal with the relevant issues concerning community safety in Worcestershire

Local Community Safety Partnership - Worcestershire is a two-tier authority and Community Safety initiatives in the County are delivered by four Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs).

• South Worcestershire Community Safety Partnership  
• Wyre Forest Community Safety Partnership
• Redditch Community Safety Partnership 
• Bromsgrove Community Safety Partnership

Worcestershire DAAT works with the County Council's Community Safety Team and the four Community Safety Partnerships to reduce the harm that drugs and alcohol cause to individuals, families and communities in Worcestershire.

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Youth Offending Service (YOS)

Worcestershire and Herefordshire Youth Offending Service (WHYOS)

The Youth Offending Service is a multi-agency partnership formed as a statutory requirement by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. All Local Authorities with responsibility for Education and Social Services were required to form such partnerships, and Worcestershire County Council and Herefordshire Council decided to form a youth offending service together. The statutory partner agencies are the Local Education Authority, Social Services, Health, Police and Probation services for both Worcestershire and Herefordshire. The Youth Justice System is overseen by The Youth Justice Board of England and Wales that was also set up by the Crime and Disorder Act 1988. 

Worcestershire DAAT works with WHYOS to reduce the harm that drugs and alcohol cause to individuals, families and communities in Worcestershire.

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Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC)

The role of the Police and Crime Commissioner for West Mercia is to ensure that West Mercia is policed by an efficient and effective police service, which supports the needs of the many communities across Herefordshire, Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Worcestershire. Bill Longmore has been elected to fulfil this role and has also stated that he intends to support and strengthen the important work being undertaken by the many partners across the force area in addressing crime and safety issues, and also provide the public with a voice in policing matters.

See the Police and Crime Plan (including Objective 4 "To reduce the harm caused by drugs with a focus on treatment, and targeting those that cause the most harm")  at the West Mercia-pcc website.
 
or for more information go to the PCC web page.

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This page was last reviewed 10 May 2013 at 11:56.
The page is next due for review 6 November 2014.