5. Probation Orders ( POs) (Chart 12 to 18 and Tables 25 to 36)
5.1 A total of 8,402 POs (including POs with a Requirement of Unpaid Work) were made in 2005-06. This represents a decrease of one per cent from the 2004-05 total of 8,465 Orders.
Chart 12 Number of Probation Orders (1), 2001-02 to 2005-06
1. Includes Probation Orders with a Requirement of Unpaid Work.
5.2 The incidence of POs was 23.2 per 10,000 population in 2005-06. This rate was highest in Clackmannanshire (47.8), Dundee City (36.2) and Glasgow City (35.4), and lowest in Moray (7.1), East Renfrewshire (7.5) and East Lothian (10.5). The rate varied similarly across Community Justice Authorities with the highest being in Glasgow (35.4) and the lowest in North Strathclyde (17.2).
Chart 13 Number of POs (1) per 10,000 population by Local Authority, 2005-06
1. Includes Probation Orders with a Requirement of Unpaid Work.
5.3 Male offenders accounted for 82 per cent of POs. Males receiving Probation tended to be younger than females, with 28 per cent of POs for males and 20 per cent of those for females being given to offenders aged under 21 years.
5.4 The incidence of POs was highest amongst 18 to 20 year olds (69.9 per 10,000 population) and was also relatively common amongst 16 to 17 year olds (61.1) and 21 to 25 year olds (51.5).
Chart 14 Probation Orders (1) by Age and Gender of Offender, 2005-06
Orders per 10,000 population
1. Includes Probation Orders with a Requirement of Unpaid Work.
2. Includes a small number of Orders relating to offenders aged under 16 years.
5.5 In 2005-06, forty-three per cent of all POs were 12 months in length, as in 2004-05. A further 24 per cent were of length 18 months and 18 per cent were of length 2 years, an increase of 2 and a decrease of 1 percentage point respectively. Only 7 per cent of orders were for lengths of less than one year. Females (56 per cent) were more likely than males (49 per cent) to receive orders of length 12 months or less.
5.6 The average length of a Probation Order in 2005-06 was 16 months for both males and females.
Chart 15 Probation Orders (1) by length of order, 2001-02 to 2005-06
1. Includes Probation Orders with a Requirement of Unpaid Work.
5.7 As with Community Service, the employment status of offenders provides an indication of the availability of offenders (see paragraph 4.6). Seventy-two per cent of POs were for offenders who were unemployed or not seeking employment. The proportion of POs for offenders who were unemployed or not seeking work was higher for females (81 per cent) than for males (70 per cent). A further 17 per cent of POs were for offenders in full-time employment, self employed, in full time education or on a government sponsored training scheme. However, 11 per cent had 'other' employment status including all orders in Perth where more detailed information was unavailable and some instances in other local authorities where the employment status was not known or missing.
5.8 Thirty-eight per cent of all POs had standard conditions only. A Requirement of Unpaid Work was made in 27 per cent of Orders, while 16 per cent included conditions of Alcohol and / or Drug Treatment / Education. Information was collected for the first time in 2005-06 on POs with a condition of attendance on a domestic abuse programme (2 per cent) or of attendance on a sex offender programme (accredited or non-accredited) (1 per cent).
5.9 Probation Orders with standard conditions only were more likely to be imposed on females (52 per cent) than males (36 per cent). A Requirement of Unpaid Work was more common amongst males (29 per cent) than females (20 per cent).
Chart 16 Percentage of POs (1) by conditions, 2001-02 to 2005-06
1. Includes Probation Orders with a Requirement of Unpaid Work.
2. Other includes Venture Trust, electronic monitoring, licence of attendance on a sex offenders programme and other intensive conditions.
Breach Applications of Probation Orders
5.10 There were 3,375 breach applications made to the Courts in 2005-06 in respect of POs, an increase of 22 per cent compared to the 2004-05 total of 2,769 applications. This was particularly driven by an increase in applications reported by Glasgow from 270 in 2004-05 to 556 in 2005-06, believed to be due in part to a change in recording practices. In other areas there were smaller increases or relatively little change.
5.11 The number of breach applications is not directly comparable with the number of orders provided previously (which covers new orders only) as some of the breach applications may relate to orders started in previous years. However, a rough estimate of the number of orders running during the year can be made using information on the length of orders started in 2003-04 to 2005-06. This gives an estimated total of around 13,000 POs running in 2005-06, which suggests that approximately one in four orders result in a breach application.
5.12 Fourteen per cent of breach applications resulted in the original order being revoked and a custodial sentence imposed, 10 per cent resulted in the order being revoked and a new probation order imposed, 2 per cent in the order being revoked and a community service order being imposed and 9 per cent in the original order being revoked and some other action taken. In 16 per cent of applications, the original order was continued and no further action taken by the court. The outcome was not yet known in 31 per cent of applications.
Chart 17 Breach applications of POs (1) by outcome, 2001-02 to 2005-06
1. Includes Probation Orders with a Requirement of Unpaid Work.
5.13 Males accounted for 83 per cent of breach applications. For all applications, the majority of breaches (56 per cent) were caused by non compliance, 41 per cent by a further offence (committed during the period of the PO) while the remainder resulted from both non compliance and a further offence.
Terminations of Probation Orders
5.14 A total of 6,328 POs were terminated in 2005-06, an increase of 27 per cent from the 2004-05 total of 4,973. Just under 60 per cent of these orders were successfully completed (including early discharge following a review). Twenty-seven per cent were terminated following a breach application. The remaining 13 per cent of orders were terminated for other reasons (including transfer to another area and death of the offender).
Chart 18 Terminations of POs (1) by reason, 2001-02 to 2005-06
1. Includes Probation Orders with a Requirement of Unpaid Work.
2. Includes orders terminated by early discharge following review.
3. Includes transfers out of the area and death.
5.15 Females (65 per cent) were more likely to complete orders successfully (including early discharge following a review) than males (58 per cent). Correspondingly, orders were more likely to be terminated following a breach for males (28 per cent) than for females (23 per cent).