Footnotes
1 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Justice/criminal/16906/6824
2 Nicolson, L. & Millar, A.R. (1989) An Evaluation of the Fines Officer Scheme, Edinburgh: The Stationery Office
3 Brown, L. (1994) A Fine On Time: The Monitoring And Evaluation Of The Pilot Supervised Attendance Order Schemes Edinburgh: The Stationery Office
4 Levy, L. and McIvor, G. (2001) National Evaluation Of The Operation And Impact Of Supervised Attendance Orders Edinburgh: The Stationery Office
5 The Supervised Attendance Order (Prescribed Courts) (Scotland) Order 2004 ( SSI 2004/194)
6 [Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 S50(2), amending the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (S236 various) which allowed for the use of first instance disposals for 16 and 17 year olds. The practical effect of the amendment is to remove the restriction of age].
7 These are first instance Supervised Attendance Orders. This report is concerned with Supervised Attendance Orders in the event of fine default.
8 Offenders appearing from custody and pleading guilty to a charge which will result in custody generally appear willing to ask for outstanding fines to be taken into account in the sentence imposed. These fines are then remitted. As will be set out later, the number of receptions including fine default more than twice the number purely for fine default.
9 The number of receptions for 2002/3 was even higher, at 1270.
10 It is worth setting out here that, although the mandatory pilot has been in operation from May 2004 to the present, offenders can still be sentenced to custody as a result of: the imposition of an alternative at the point of sentence, as part of a "roll up" in the event of custody being imposed for other matters, for fine default above level 2 (although this is always a small number) and as a result of a breach of a Supervised Attendance Order. For Ayr Sheriff and Glasgow District Courts, this will be discussed in more detail later.
11 Section 4 is discussed later.
12 The age was raised from 16 to 18 by the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 s50(1).
13 A pilot programme in Dundee allowing for the imposition of SAOs as a first instance disposal on young offenders was terminated early following a review which showed particularly high breach rates, leading to a concern that, as a result, an unacceptably high number of young men and women aged 16 and 17 were receiving custodial sentences. (Levy and McIvor, op cit)
14 National Objectives for Social Work Services in the Criminal Justice System: Standards Supervised Attendance Orders ( http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/12/20476/49377)
15 These periods of imprisonment were changed to 30 days and 20 days by Section 50 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003.
16 As noted, offenders may, at any point in time, have multiple Supervised Attendance Orders. The pattern of multiple Orders is not currently published.
17 Scottish Executive (2005) Criminal Justice Social Work Statistics 2004/2005 Edinburgh : Scottish Executive
18 As noted above, a pilot is operating in a small number of courts to allow the imposition of SAOs as a first instance disposal. The vast majority of SAOs are imposed as a result of fine default.
19 Criminal Justice Social Work Statistics 2004/2005 (op cit)
20 Criminal Justice Social Work Statistics 2004/2005
21 Criminal Justice Social Work Statistics 2004/2005
22 Although no additional resources were provided to the Procurator Fiscal service or police, it is clear that there has been an impact in terms of increased numbers of breach proceedings and warrants. This issue is discussed in more detail later.
23 The figures presented here are slightly different to the published bulletin to allow for the fact that data is missing in some years for some courts.
24 Fines resulting in custody is calculated on a different basis to the figures on imposed alternatives.
25 The exact figure is hard to ascertain as offenders' unique identifying numbers (the SCRO "S" numbers) were not available
26 The views given here are consistent with those expressed to Levy and McIvor in their 1998-99 evaluation.
27 The need to secure consent was originally part of the Order, but was subsequently removed.
28 The service manager indicated that the balance consisted mostly of orders where the initial interview was pending, or where the reasons for non-attendance were being investigated prior to consideration of breach proceedings.
29 These included offenders who were admonished and offenders whose orders were revoked and a fresh order imposed.
30 Loucks, N., Malloch, M., McIvor, G., and Gelsthorpe, L. (2006) Evaluation of the 218 Centre, Edinburgh : Scottish Executive
31 Derived from statistics provided by Glasgow District Court.
32 In some cases, sentencers at Glasgow District Court imposed custody backdated to the point of arrest, but it appears that this was, in all cases, for longer periods than would equate to "time served".
33 It is worth noting that, in the national evaluation carried out in 1998-99, Levy and McIvor (Levy and McIvor, op cit) identified that, at that time, Supervised Attendance Officers normally attended court. This was identified in their evaluation as a positive contribution to the success of the implementation of orders.
34 It could be argued that this is a potential benefit of models which include an element of unpaid work.
35 It is also common for offenders to make at least some further payments before defaulting, which also has the practical effect of extending the gap between the imposition of the order and its commencement.
36 As will be set out later, sentencers may be considering time spent in custody following arrest on a warrant as analogous to time served, and hence, in these cases, while no further action is accurate, it does not present the whole picture.
37 This figure uses as its basis the actual time served rather than the average length of sentence, resulting in a rather lower figure than that typically quoted. This approach was taken following the receipt of direct advice.
38 Scottish Executive (2002) A Better Way: The Report of the Ministerial Group on Women's Offending. Edinburgh: Scottish Executive.
39 Some of these suggestions would be equally applicable to a mandatory Supervised Attendance Order, and these should be read in conjunction with paragraph 4.4.