Survey launched to help prevent re-offending in Norfolk
** Deadline extended - 1 December 2021 **
Organisations across Norfolk are being encouraged to take part in a survey to help understand how well offenders are supported in the county to identify any gaps in services and prevent re-offending.
The consultation exercise has been commissioned by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Norfolk (OPCCN) and will be run by the Centre for Public Innovation (CPI)*.
The survey forms part of a wider Strategic Needs Assessment being carried out by the CPI, at request of the OPCCN, to look at offender prevention and management with a view to better inform future work in this area.
Norfolk’s Police and Crime Commissioner Giles Orpen-Smellie, said: “Norfolk’s Reducing Offending Plan is not just about tackling crime, it is about safeguarding vulnerable people, making sure criminal justice works for our communities and providing support for victims and witnesses.
“Quite simply, reducing offending changes lives. It changes the lives of our victims and witnesses, the lives of those who are offending and the lives of their families, in communities across Norfolk.
“It isn’t just about improving our statistics or making the savings we need to provide services in the future, this is also about making a real difference to people’s lives.
“Reducing offending is not the responsibility of the police alone or indeed just the responsibility of any one of our Local Criminal Justice Board (LCJB) partners. These partners are of course key in delivering the collective change we need but we also need a wider effort from the public, private and third sectors to provide the right preventions and interventions at the right time.”
The survey will run from Wednesday 20 October 2021 with an original deadline of 5pm Wednesday 17 November 2021. The deadline has now been extended to 5pm Wednesday 1 December 2021.
As well as running the autumn survey the CPI will also be interviewing offenders, stakeholders and partner organisations to better understand experiences of the criminal justice system from both perspectives.
The CPI has been awarded a total of £18,840 by the OPCCN to carry out the assessment, the aims of which are:
- To assess current and future needs of offending prevention and management across Norfolk, focusing on the wider system impact and demand
- To map, accessibility and gap analysis of offending prevention and management services across Norfolk
- To carry out an evidence-based options appraisal improving current and future systems approaches to offending and re-offending
Giles added: “I am delighted my office is partnership with the Centre for Public Innovation on this needs assessment which will look at ways in which we can all work better together to reduce offending.
“Our shared goal is to work with partners and with communities to achieve a shared vision of keeping Norfolk safe and feeling safe.”
Mark Napier, Project Director at the CIP, said: “Mapping the services that are available to offenders in Norfolk is a key part of the research as it will give us a clear picture of what services exist and what gaps need addressing.
"The more responses we get the better our understanding will be of what is needed to help offenders."
Statistics show adults released from custodial sentences of less than 12 months had a proven re-offending rate of 61% and between October to December 2018 - 139 juvenile offenders were released from custody and 87 (62.6%) were proven to have committed a re-offence within a year.
Organisations who work in the area of offender management are being invited to take part in the short survey.
Take part in the survey
*The Centre for Public Innovation is a Community Interest Company that provides research, training, support and advice in the fields of health, social care, criminal justice and community development. Their mission is to improve the outcomes of service users, with a particular emphasis on the most disadvantaged.