Criminal Justice Team

Criminal Justice Social Work carries out a Local Authority responsibility for providing services to the Criminal Justice System that enables sentencers at Court to appropriately consider and use community disposals where otherwise a custodial sentence might have been imposed.

The services also provide throughcare for prisoners and released prisoners.

Components of the service include the following:

• Providing social enquiry report and other types of reports and carrying out assessment to assist decision making by the Courts or Procurator Fiscal
• Supervision of Probation Orders and relate services
• Provision of placements and supervision of Community Service Orders
• Supervision of Attendance Orders
• Supervision and reports of Drug Testing and Treatment Orders
• Provision of services associated with the use of deferred sentence
• Provision of Diversion from Prosecution Scheme
• Providing means enquiry report and supervision of fines
• Provision of bail services as required by the Courts
• Throughcare including voluntary support to released prisoners to assist them to resettle back into the community, also support to their families
• Throughcare services for prisoners from the area and their families and preparing for release
• Providing pre-release reports to the parole board
• Providing home circumstances reports to the Prison Service prior to home release
• Supervision of offenders released from custody who are on parole or any other licence or form of mandatory supervision

Services are subject to conforming with the National Standards for management and practice and quality. The service also aims to promote and assist the development of services to victims of crime and to reduce and prevent crime.