Probation officers set target to prevent 37 criminals from re-offending

13 April 2012

Every probation officer is trying to prevent an average 37 criminals, including rapists and murderers, from re-offending, it was revealed.

That means they spend barely one hour with each convict in an average working week.

It lays bare the root cause of the re- offending scandals that continue to rock the Government, say critics.

The past week alone has revealed paedophiles being left free to prey on children, dangerous offenders allowed to kill, and confirmation that two out of every three criminals break the law within two years on being freed from prison.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: 'The consequences of this failure are putting the public at often lethal risk. It is about time the Government got an urgent grip on this failing area.'

Home Secretary John Reid this week accused probation staff of spending 'too much money on report writing and not enough on practical help'. The average spending on each offender was more than £3,500 a year, he declared.

But figures seen by the Daily Mail reveal that even if probation officers are able to dedicate all their time to supervising offenders it remains woefully insufficient.

There are 6,173 probation officers trying to cope with 224,094 criminals - almost 37 each.

Of these offenders, at least 40,000 will be straight out of prison. They include killers and sex offenders who need a high level of monitoring.

The frontline probation officers are backed by around 6,000 administration and support staff.

But they are not fully-trained in dealing with convicts face-to-face.

Norman Brennan, director of the Victims of Crime Trust, said the public would be 'absolutely astounded' by the figures.

Harry Fletcher, of the National Association of Probation Officers, has warned: 'If the Home Secretary wants more intensive supervision then he must supply considerable numbers of additional trained and experienced staff.'

The figures come at the end of another bad week for John Reid, who pledged to sort out the probation service.

In a speech at Wormwood Scrubs prison in West London, he warned there would be no compromise over a decision to privatise up to a third of the service's annual £800million budget.

Charities and private contractors can bid for contracts to supervise criminals, alongside the National Offender Management Service.

But since then the BBC's Panorama programme has revealed cases of two paedophiles - including a child killer - staying at bail hostels being left free to befriend children or take photographs of youngsters.

Probation was also under fire for not acting quickly enough to prevent Davidson Charles murdering Bristol taxi-driver Colin Winstone.

A National Probation Service spokesman said: 'Offenders who pose the highest risk receive more intensive contact than those who pose a lower risk, with other resources being directed accordingly.'

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