Posted on: 23 May, 2025

We broadly welcome the UK Government commissioned Independent Sentencing Review and its commitment to expanding the use of Community Sentence Treatment Requirements (CSTRs) as a vital component of a more effective, rehabilitative justice system.

CSTRs, encompassing drug, alcohol and mental health treatment requirements are proven to reduce reoffending by addressing the root causes of criminal behaviour. Cranstoun has been working closely with a number of police forces and courts to support the use of drug and alcohol treatment requirements over the past five years – which has seen up to 2,000 people referred into treatment services, avoided costly short-term prison sentences and saved the taxpayer well over £20 million in cost avoidance. By integrating treatment into sentencing, these measures offer people a structured route to live a safer, healthier and crime free life whilst ensuring justice for victims.

The review rightly identified the need to reduce the reliance on short custodial sentences, which are often ineffective and disruptive. Instead, it promotes robust community-based alternatives that are both cost-effective and more likely to support long-term desistence from crime. We particularly welcome the recommendation to increase investment in CSTR provision and expand access to liaison and diversion services. This will help to ensure that people with multiple needs can receive timely and meaningful support.

We also support the proposed expansion of intensive supervision courts, which combine the judicial oversight with treatment intervention, offering a tailored approach for people with multiple and complex needs. These courts have demonstrated success in promoting compliance and reducing reoffending.

However, the success of these reforms does depend on sustained investment in probation services, health care, housing and community organisations. An effective probation system is essential to supporting people in the community and ensuring that community sentences can be enforced, and people can turn their lives around.

We urge the Government to ensure that these reforms are underpinned by the adequate funding, and further work is done to look at the best practice in this space, including the Cranstoun Arrest Referral Service which is acknowledged in the College of Policing’s best practice bank.

These reforms should be implemented in partnership with the organisations which are already leading much of this work across the country. Doing this will allow us to create a fairer justice system which is better equipped to reduce reoffending, protect the public and promote safer streets.

We also believe that there is more to be done when it comes to Out of Court Resolutions (OOCRs), something that Cranstoun has been delivering for several years in partnership with police forces to deliver high quality interventions. Cranstoun has received more than 17,000 referrals since 2020 with a completion rate of 70% and a very low re-referral rate of under 5%.

We also welcome the commitment from the Government to expanding specialist domestic abuse courts and ensuring that we see a more thorough risk assessment in domestic abuse and stalking cases. However, we echo concerns raised by the Domestic Abuse Commissioner around the automatic release following recall and the impact that this could have on victim safety unless properly managed and assessed.

We are also wholly supportive of The Review’s recommendation to increase the use of technology to enhance the mechanisms and delivery of interventions to reduce reoffending, and more effectively manage resources. At Cranstoun, we recognise the sheer importance of embracing proven technology to improve criminal justice service delivery, including administrative automation to significantly save resource, money and time. We have partnered with Make Time Count who have a multilayered yet user-friendly criminal justice platform that has been evidenced to effectively improve service delivery across the whole criminal justice system including police, courts, prisons and victim support. Our partnership has created our Diversion Hub model which enables more efficient and effective diversion, reducing cost, reoffending and harm whilst increasing victim satisfaction. Our Diversion Hub provides a swift, evidence based multi-agency solution, that delivers assessment and navigation to ensure right intervention at the right time for our communities. We believe that merging established technology with excellent in-person support and treatment offers the gold standard in reducing re-offending.

This is a pivotal moment for sentencing reform. By embracing evidence based rehabilitative approaches like CSTRs, OOCRs and specialist courts we can move towards a justice system that  offers people opportunities to change and keep communities safe.