Lancashire Probation Trust
| Lancashire Probation Trust | |
|---|---|
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 2009 |
| Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| General nature |
|
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters |
Preston, Lancashire, England 
|
| Website | |
| www.lancashireprobation.co.uk | |
Lancashire Probation Trust is a criminal justice agency responsible for punishing and rehabilitating offenders in Lancashire, England.
It is one of 35 probation trusts in England and Wales that make up the National Probation Service. The Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom) has overall responsibility for the National Probation Service and is also responsible for courts, prisons and constitutional affairs.
The Trust enforces punishment of offenders, works to rehabilitate offenders, and upholds the interests of the victims of crime. It is responsible for the delivery of reports about offenders to the courts and the supervision of offenders in the community. It also runs programmes and interventions to rehabilitate offenders.
Lancashire Probation is responsible for the preparation of pre-sentence reports for the courts. When an offender is found guilty, the sentencer may order from the probation trust a formal report prepared by a probation officer that includes details on why the offence occurred, the circumstances, the offender’s personal background and an assessment of the risk they may still pose to the public. The sentencer can then consider the report when deciding sentencing . Probation staff also prepare bail information reports which assess an offender’s suitability for bail, and arrange placements at probation hostels.
A lot of work is centred on adult offenders who are ordered to serve their sentences in the community as part of a community order. There are twelve possible requirements that can be used to make up a community order and judges can sentence an offender to any combination from them. The twelve requirements are:
Community Payback can be a single requirement attached to a community order or can form part of a larger order. The court can order the offender to complete between 40 and 300 hours of unpaid work, depending on the seriousness of the offence. The aim of community payback is to reduce re-offending. Trusts work with local communities to find suitable work placements for the offenders to complete.
Nationally-accredited programmes aim to reduce reoffending by getting offenders to address offending behaviour and challenging their attitudes and beliefs. They are intense courses that can be long . The programmes that the probation service delivers in Lancashire are:
Lancashire Probation Trust, along with Lancashire Constabulary and Her Majesty's Prison Service work closely together under Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) to manage high risk sexual or violent offenders. The agencies assess the risk, then prepare and implement plans to minimise it. This work is supported by a range of other agencies which have a duty to cooperate, including local authority housing, education and social services, the health service and job centres, and a Youth Offending Team.
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