Communities across North Wales have benefited from a record amount of unpaid work by offenders. In all, Community Payback teams supervised by the Probation Service provided just over 133,000 hours or nearly £750,000 worth of free labour in the region over the past year. A breakdown shows that 25,637 hours of unpaid work were done in the Wrexham area, 34,268 hours in the Flintshire, 38,970 hours in Denbighshire and Conwy and 34,152 hours in Gwynedd and Ynys Mon.
The offenders taking part have been sentenced by the courts to do the work to pay back for their crimes. Projects can include graffiti cleaning, tidying up criminal damage, environmental clean-ups, painting and decorating community buildings and grass cutting. The schemes are organised by the North Wales Probation Area, often in partnership with other agencies.
Community Service Area Manager Liz Hughes said: “Unpaid work is reparation for the offences committed by the individuals concerned. It shows the community that when people commit offences that they have given something back to the community. It’s a punishment and it’s work that wouldn’t be done by paid employees and it’s of benefit to the community.”
“The aim is to demonstrate to the public that anti-social behaviour is not acceptable. To the offenders who are sentenced by the courts, it demonstrates that they have to repair and put right what they have done wrong in the first place. People feel that offenders should be locked up in prison and clearly in the case of high risk offenders custody is the right course of action. Where appropriate, Community Payback gives offenders the opportunity to put things right and to show they’re sorry for what they’ve done.”
“This is a constructive form of punishment in that, in addition to doing something beneficial to the community, offenders can learn respect. Each work day is constructed to be just like any other employee’s work day – they have to follow instructions and work to targets and get the work done in an acceptable manner.”
“In the course of doing that work, they can learn some valuable skills and gain real qualifications through the Open College Network. If they find a job as result of making themselves more employable it lessens the likelihood of them re-offending. Statistics show that if somebody is in employment they are more likely not to commit a further offence because their lifestyle is more stable. That in itself is of benefit to the community. If less crimes are being committed that’s great news for everybody.”
It was a view echoed by Clifton Robinson, Chair of the North Wales Probation Area, who added: “Unpaid work is right at the top of my list of priorities. There’s so many statistics coming out that show that it’s absolutely clear that people who are doing unpaid work are far less likely to be re-offending than if they are sent to prison. If you take into account the opportunities for partnership working with local authorities, community safety partnerships and other agencies, it’s a fantastic win-win situation.”
“It’s right that offenders pay their dues to society in a constructive, structured way like this. Some people feel that unpaid work is not a proper punishment but, believe you me, it is. They are supervised so closely that they have to work, they have to put in the hours and the effort. It’s proven that re-offending rates are much lower for people on unpaid work and that’s the ultimate benefit to society.”
“Our role is all about public protection and reducing re-offending and this is a key plank of that policy. We have a great record in North Wales in making it work – a phenomenal number of hours in the year that’s just gone. It’s a colossal amount of work throughout North Wales. It’s a fantastic scheme.”
