The seven pathways to reducing re-offending
The ‘end-to-end’ management of offenders being implemented by NOMS, which has the same offender manager working with an offender for the entirety of his or her sentence, brings coherence to the process. This new way of operating means that the prison and probation services are working more closely together than ever before. It is based on research that demonstrates re-offending can be reduced by helping offenders to deal with factors such as homelessness, drug addiction and unemployment. In practical terms NOMS has built what it calls the seven reducing pathways to reduce re-offending into the provision of services to offenders. The challenge is to transform the offender into the citizen. It means ensuring appropriate monitoring and supervision, working together to tackle drug and alcohol abuse, improving offenders’ basic skills, tackling their offending behaviour and improving their chances of them getting a job. It also means helping them get decent accommodation and working with the children and families of offenders to try and break the cycle of offending. The seven NOMS pathways to reduce re-offending are:
- Accommodation and support
A third of prisoners do not have settled accommodation prior to custody and it is estimated that stable accommodation can reduce the likelihood of re-offending by more than a fifth. It also provides the vital building blocks for a range of other support services and gaining employment.
Education, training and employment
Having a job can reduce the risk of re-offending by between a third and a half. There is a strong correlation between offending, poor literacy, language and numeracy skills and low achievement. Many offenders have a poor experience of education and no experience of stable employment.
- Health
Offenders are disproportionately more likely to suffer from mental and physical health problems than the general population and also have high rates of alcohol misuse. Not surprisingly, 31% of adult prisoners were found to have emotional well being issues linked to their offending behaviour.
- Drugs and alcohol
Around two thirds of prisoners use illegal drugs in the year before imprisonment and intoxication by alcohol is linked to 30% of sexual offences, 33% of burglaries, 50% of street crime and about half of all violent crimes.
- Finance, benefits and debt.
Ensuring that ex-offenders have sufficient lawfully obtained money to live on is vital to their rehabilitation. Around 48% of prisoners report a history of debt, which gets worse for about a third of them during custody and about 81% of offenders claim benefit on release.
- Children and families
Maintaining strong relationships with families and children can play a major role in helping prisoners to make and sustain changes that help them to avoid re-offending. This is difficult because custody places added strains on family relationships.
- Attitudes, thinking & behaviour
Prisoners are more likely to have negative social attitudes and poor self-control. Successfully addressing their attitudes, thinking and behaviour during custody may reduce re-offending by up to 14%.