The objective of the court social work units is to deal with all matters of social work in the criminal justice system.
The provision of social work services to the court system is one of the criminal justice services directly funded by the Scottish Government. These services are regulated by the National Objectives and Standards which are applicable to all 100 per cent funded criminal justice services.
Key elements of criminal justice court work are:
- administering arrangements to ensure that reports requested or required by courts are prepared and social work staff are available, where required, to address reports including providing supplementary information
- interviewing offenders or accused persons who have received a custodial sentence or remand prior to leaving court, to assess risk of self harm and to establish if there are matters which may require practical assistance in view of the custodial sentence, such as child care arrangements or prescribed medication
- implementing court decisions on offenders who have received community based penalties such as probation or community service orders
- identifying persons appearing before the court who may be vulnerable on grounds of youth, age or mental or physical illness and providing help and support as appropriate
- providing support to witnesses and victims of crime who may be involved in court proceedings
- liaison with all other services involved in the court process to ensure effective administration of justice
Uniquely in Scotland, the Glasgow social work court team provide services to four separate courts:
- the High Court when sitting in Glasgow
- the Sheriff Court
- the Stipendiary Magistrates' Court
- the District Court
All of Glasgow's courts generate a high level of demand for social work involvement to support the criminal justice system. The social work court team has 30 staff who work directly with the four courts as well as supporting offenders and their families, victims of crime, social work and a range of other professional staff who work within the criminal justice service.
The Glasgow court team includes two additional specialist teams:
- the bail information and supervision service assists courts to consider alternatives to custodial remand through provision of verified information on the accused person’s circumstances and rigorous supervision of bailees in the community
- the supervised attendance order service provides supervision of offenders who are made subject to this order as an alternative to imprisonment for non-payment of fines
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