Criminal Justice Social Work Services
Main aims
Social Work Services responsibilities
Main services
How services are provided
Background
Criminal Justice Services are provided in a framework of social and community initiatives intended to enhance quality of life and increase community safety in Glasgow. Glasgow is Scotland’s largest city and has distinctive social and economic circumstances, including high levels of deprivation, drug and alcohol misuse.
The key objective of Criminal Justice Services is to achieve a reduction in re-offending, increase social inclusion of former offenders and support for victims of crime.
Glasgow carries a significant proportion of Scotland's criminal justice workload:
- it is responsible for 20 per cent of all court disposals in the country
- 32 per cent of all indictment (more serious) cases
- 35 per cent of all High court cases in Scotland
Glasgow has the highest proportion of social work disposals in Sheriff courts in Scotland.
Criminal Justice Social Work Services are 100 per cent funded by direct grant from the Scottish Government which can be used for no other purpose. Services funded in this way are subject to National Objectives and Standards which define the content and quality of services to be provided.
Every three years the City Council must submit their three-year Criminal Justice strategic plan to the Scottish Government which defines the approach and objectives for next three years. This document is available for downloading and requires Adobe Acrobat to access it. The Adobe reader can be freely downloaded from the Adobe Web site.
Criminal Justice Social Work Services main aims include:
- tackling criminal behaviour and reducing risk of re-offending
- supervising offenders in the community
- assisting prisoners re-settle into the community after release from custody.
Social Work Services responsibilities include:
- providing effective supervision of offenders in the community
- challenging offending behaviour and helping offenders realise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, their families, the community and their victims
- assisting with problems that may contribute to offending, for example, drug or alcohol misuse
- providing courts with a range of alternatives to prison in appropriate circumstances
- promoting community safety and public protection
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Main services include:
- assessments and reports on offenders to courts to assist decisions on sentencing
- court social work services to assist those attending court whether as witnesses, accused people or offenders
- bail information and supervision services as an alternative to custodial remand
- supervised attendance order services as an alternative to prison for failing to pay a fine
- supervising offenders in the community on probation orders to tackle offending behaviour
- supervising offenders on drug treatment and testing orders to reduce drug related crime
- supervising offenders on community service orders who are required to perform unpaid, useful work for the benefit of the community
- prison social work services to prisoners and their families
- preparing reports for the Parole Board to assist decisions about release from prison
- throughcare services including parole, supervised release and other prison aftercare orders to assist public safety and community protection
- supporting victims of crime and their families
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How services are provided
The City Council Social Work Services is the main provider, but works in partnership with voluntary organisations and community groups in the provision of criminal justice services in Glasgow.
Contact with Criminal Justice Social Work Services is normally as a result of court orders or sentences.
Contact details
For contact information see useful linksFor information on how to comment or complain on the service you receive see Your Views
Our commitment to you
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