30 referred to Sarnia Programme in first full year

Friday 17 July 2020

The Sarnia Programme - designed to help domestic abusers address their behaviour - had a good uptake in its first full year of operating, becoming one of the Probation Service's highlights for 2019.

The statistics relating to the programme, which was launched in May 2018, have been released in probation's Annual Report for last year.

Over the course of 2019, the programme saw 30 referrals and worked with them each individually to support them in changing their behaviour.

The year saw a marked rise from the 20 referrals in 2018, although the programme hadn't been running all year.

"The highlight [of 2019] for us was the development of the new programme for domestic abuse perpetrators," said Chief Probation Officer, Anna Guilbert. "That was an exciting development. We've now got a very effective programme which is being used by both the criminal courts and the family courts, and we're having very positive feedback from victims of domestic abuse about changes in behaviour."

Pictured: Chief Probation Officer, Anna Guilbert.

The programme has been designed around the latest research, encouraging individuals to focus on their strengths and build appropriate skills. It is carried out in partnership between the Probation Service and the Domestic Abuse Strategy, while local charity Safer is on hand to support victims.

"Whilst the majority of the resources need to go to victims and children involved, we do need some part of the resources to try and change perpetrator behaviour and to prevent further victims," added Ms Guilbert.

2019 was a busy year for the Probation Service, preparing a total of 238 Social Enquiry Reports for the criminal courts and 41 separate Parole Assessment Reports.

The service also spent some time looking into alternative community sentences which could be made available to the court. One of those looked into was electronic motoring - also known as tagging - but Ms Guilbert said the implementation is some way off yet.

Pictured: Electronic monitoring could be used by the courts in the future.

"What we're trying to do is provide the court with options," she explained. "They already have the option of putting people on probation - a sentence that addresses their offending behaviour but staying in the community. They've got the option of community service, which is unpaid work in the community - a kind of punishment in the community.

"The electronic monitoring has potential in regard to imposing curfews in community sentences, but that's further down the line. If people are offending because they drink too much at night or are going out into Town in the evening, some sort of enforceable curfew might be something the courts would find useful in their toolbox."

The Probation Service Annual Report for 2019 can be read in full HERE.