Item 11 - Appendix 1

West Dunbartonshire Council · 28 September 2022
Back to Community Planning West Dunbartonshire Management Board — 28 September 2022 and its agenda

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National Strategy
for Community
Justice
Appendix 1

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National Strategy for Community Justice 1National Strategy for Community Justice 1
Contents
Ministerial Foreword 2
What is community justice? 3
Table of National Aims and Priority Actions 6
Aim 1: Optimise the use of diversion and intervention at the earliest opportunity 7
Aim 2: Ensure that robust and high quality community interventions and
public protection arrangements are consistently available across Scotland 10
Aim 3: Ensure that services are accessible and available to address the needs
of individuals accused or convicted of an offence 14
Aim 4: Strengthen the leadership, engagement, and partnership working of
local and national community justice partners 18

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National Strategy for Community Justice 2National Strategy for Community Justice 2
Ministerial
Foreword
In the past fifteen years we have made great
strides in improving the effectiveness of
our justice system - recorded crime remains
at one of the lowest levels in nearly 50
years. The previous National Strategy for
Community Justice set out a clear vision
of a Scotland where people are rightly
held to account for their offending, but are
supported to be active and responsible
contributors to their community. Partners
have worked hard over the past five years
to help achieve this vision. However, we
recognise that there is still work to be done
to ensure that we can all live in communities
that are inclusive, empowered, resilient and
safe.
Protecting victims and the public from
further harm is our absolute priority. And we
see this as being entirely consistent with our
aims for community justice – the evidence
shows that community-based interventions
and sentences can be more effective in
reducing reoffending and assisting with
rehabilitation than short-term custodial
sentences, while protecting the public and
robustly managing risk. We firmly believe
that while prison will continue to be the right
option for some, in many circumstances,
keeping individuals out of custody is the best
way to prevent further offending, reduce
victimisation, and keep our communities safe.
We are determined therefore to shift the
balance between custodial and community
disposals, and to address the fact that
Scotland’s prison population is still amongst
the highest per capita in Western Europe.
This revised National Strategy for Community
Justice sets the national direction for
community justice by building on progress
made to date. It is designed to provide a
clear roadmap for future improvement work,
by highlighting key areas for partners to
focus on – as we recognise that no one has
unlimited capacity and prioritisation of work
is required.
The strategy sets out four national aims
for community justice, and 13 priority
actions which the Scottish Government and
community justice partners should seek to
deliver over the duration of the strategy.
To achieve these, partners must work
closely together. Effective coordination and
collaboration are key and community justice
partners must ensure they have a clear focus
on delivery.
This is why the strategy will be accompanied
by a delivery plan to ensure implementation
and drive towards actions at a national,
as well as local level. Community justice
partners have a statutory duty to
have regard to the strategy and work
collaboratively to improve community justice
outcomes across Scotland.
The strategy will not work in isolation and
takes account of and signposts other key
pieces of work that are being led by this
Government and is fully aligned with the
Vision for Justice in Scotland. In particular,
we recognise and the strategy acknowledges
that many communities and services across
Scotland are still being impacted by the
consequences of COVID-19.
Keith Brown
Cabinet Secretary 
for Justice and Veterans
June 2022

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National Strategy for Community Justice 3
What is
community justice?
Community justice is principally about
organisations working together to
ensure that people who have offended
address the underlying causes of
their behaviour, and pay back to the
community where appropriate. It aims
to encourage rehabilitation, reduce
reoffending, and protect the public,
leading to fewer victims and safer
communities.
This requires a strong partnership-
working approach at each point of
the justice system, from the point of
arrest, through to integration into the
community.
Public protection remains our first
priority, with robust risk management
systems in place to ensure that,
where appropriate, those who
have committed offences can be
managed safely and effectively in
the community. In the long term, our
ambition is to use prison only for those
who pose a risk of serious harm.
A legal definition of ‘community justice’ is
provided in section 1 of the Community
Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 (the Act). In
addition, Community Justice Scotland has
produced a framing toolkit to support
people and organisations shape how they
speak, write and communicate about
community justice in ways that can increase
public awareness and confidence in it as a
sentencing option.
Delivery of this strategy
Working towards each of the four aims in
the National Strategy for Community Justice
(referred to throughout as ‘the strategy’)
is vital for achieving our ambitions for
community justice, and improving community
connections and wellbeing. The Vision for
Justice in Scotland contains evidence that
underpins our approach to community
justice, and as with the Vision, ensuring that
all parts of the justice system deliver person-
centred services, embed trauma-informed
practices and take account of the needs of
victims of crime is central to the strategy.
This strategy should be read in conjunction
with the associated delivery plan (expected
later in 2022), and links closely to the
Outcomes, Performance and Improvement
Framework (the OPIF) (section 17 of the
Act). The OPIF determines the outcomes
which are to be achieved in the area of each
local authority and indicators to be used
to measure performance in achieving the
outcomes, and is a tool designed to support
improvement across the community justice
landscape.
The delivery of community justice services
requires appropriate resourcing, but can also
support prevention and deliver improved
outcomes for individuals and communities.
Decisions about funding and investment will
be considered as part of the ongoing work to
deliver the strategy. Consideration will also
be given – in close collaboration with a range
of partners – to how the strategy and model
of community justice can support and work
effectively with emerging proposals for a
National Care Service.

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National Strategy for Community Justice 4
Community justice partners
A broad range of partners contribute to the
achievement of community justice outcomes,
including statutory partners, as defined in
the Act, communities and the third sector,
who play a vital role both in the planning
and delivery of services.
The statutory partners for community justice
as outlined in the Act are:
Chief Constable of Police Scotland
Health Boards
Integration Joint Boards for Health and
Social Care
Local Authorities
Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
Scottish Ministers (i.e. Scottish Prison Service,
Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service)
Skills Development Scotland
The Community Justice (Scotland) Act 2016
does not require statutory partners to carry
out their duties in a way that would conflict
with existing statutory duties.
Community justice partners acting jointly at
a local level are frequently referred to as a
‘community justice partnership’, this term is
therefore used in this strategy.
Community Justice Scotland is the national
leadership body for community justice in
Scotland, and has a statutory duty to promote
the strategy. Community Justice Scotland
also holds a statutory duty to monitor the
performance of each local authority area in
the achievement of nationally and locally-
determined community justice outcomes.
It also has powers to identify and promote
good practice; provide advice, guidance
and assistance to the community justice
partnerships; and to make national and
local improvement recommendations where
appropriate.
We also recognise that collaborative
working across other partnerships,
including Community Planning Partnerships,
Community Safety Partnerships, Alcohol
and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) and Violence
Against Women (VAW) Partnerships, is
key to improving outcomes and reducing
duplication. Given the wider work being
undertaken in other forums, the focus of this
strategy is from the point of arrest onwards
and we would encourage community justice
partnerships to focus their action from this
point onwards, as opposed to on primary
prevention.
Strategic context
The strategy complements the Scottish
Government’s Vision for Justice in Scotland
published in 2022, which sets out our
vision for a just, safe and resilient Scotland.
The vision is aligned with the Scottish
Government’s National Performance
Framework (NPF).
The Vision for Justice in Scotland is based on
evidence of what we know works to achieve
the long term outcomes set out. The two
key transformation priorities apply to the
approach to community justice in Scotland,
these are:
• ensuring justice services embed person-
centred and trauma informed practices,
and
• working across public services to improve
outcomes for individuals, focussing on
prevention and early intervention.
Specifically, the National Strategy for
Community Justice supports and drives
forward action in relation to the outcomes set
out under the aim to ‘support rehabilitation,
use custody only where there is no
alternative and work to reduce reoffending
and revictimisation’.

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National Strategy for Community Justice 5
The delivery plan for the National Strategy
for Community Justice will contain
time-limited deliverables, detailing the
responsibilities of the Scottish Government
and community justice partners, to drive
improvement nationally towards the aims in
the strategy and ultimately what is detailed
in the Vision for Justice in Scotland. There
are other priorities being progressed across
Government and by community justice
partners, operating alongside this strategy,
which relate to community justice that the
strategy will not necessarily focus on but will
reflect, including the following:
Victims of crime
The strategy will reflect the ongoing work to
deliver person-centred and trauma-informed
services to victims and survivors of crime. As
set out in the Vision for Justice in Scotland,
this will see victims take a more prominent
role in cases, experiencing fewer delays
and being supported in their recovery. The
strategy and delivery plan will also support
the commitment in the Restorative Justice
Action Plan, published in 2019, to ensuring
restorative justice services are available
across Scotland by 2023.
Youth Justice
The number of young people going
through the justice system has reduced
dramatically in recent years – and
community interventions have played a key
role. The strategy will not focus on youth
justice but will take account of the Scottish
Government’s Vision for Youth Justice, and
its accompanying Action Plan. This represents
a shared foundation between the Scottish
Government and partners to continue to
support the agenda to keep children out of
the justice system and promote the use of
the Whole System Approach and community-
based interventions.
Violence prevention
Our overall aim for Scotland is to reduce
the number of people affected by crime,
including violent crime, and reduce the
number of people ending up in the justice
system. We want to prevent violence from
happening in the first instance, and when
it does occur, to reduce the harm as soon
as possible. The aims of this strategy will
play a crucial role in helping us achieve this
and will complement the National Violence
Prevention Framework to be published in
2022. This framework will consider the
available evidence and identify policy
priorities for our violence reduction partners
to work towards, to prevent violence and
repeated incidents, to help make Scotland’s
communities safer.
Women in justice
The strategy will reflect Equally Safe, the
joint Scottish Government and COSLA
strategy to prevent and eradicate violence
against women and girls in Scotland. In
addition, and in common with the Vision
for Justice in Scotland, the strategy will
respond to the strategic examination that the
Minister for Community Safety is currently
undertaking, supported by a Women’s
Leadership Panel, to address gender
inequality and improve women’s experiences
within the justice system. It is anticipated
that the Panel will report in 2023.
Trauma Informed Practice
The strategy will reflect the Scottish
Government’s ambition for a trauma-
informed and trauma-responsive workforce
and services across Scotland. Embedding
trauma-informed approaches will ensure
that our services recognise the prevalence of
trauma and adversity, realise when people
are affected by trauma, and respond in ways
that reduce re-traumatising. Since 2018,
the Scottish Government has invested in a
National Trauma Training Programme (NTTP)
to support all sectors of the workforce to
further progress and embed trauma-informed
systems and services. Relationship-based
practice that respects resilience, prevents
further harm and supports recovery is
intrinsic to trauma-informed approaches.

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National Strategy for Community Justice 6
National aim Priority action
1. Optimise the
use of diversion
and intervention
at the earliest
opportunity
1. Enhance intervention at the earliest opportunity by ensuring greater
consistency, confidence in and awareness of services which support the
use of direct measures and diversion from prosecution
2. Improve the identification of underlying needs and the delivery of
support following arrest by ensuring the provision of person-centred
care within police custody and building upon referral opportunities to
services including substance use and mental health services
2. Ensure that
robust and
high quality
community
interventions and
public protection
arrangements
are consistently
available across
Scotland
3. Support the use of robust alternatives to remand by ensuring high
quality bail services are consistently available and delivered effectively
4. Strengthen options for safe and supported management in the community
by increasing and widening the use of electronic monitoring technologies
5. Ensure that those given community sentences are supervised and
supported appropriately to protect the public, promote desistence
from offending and enable rehabilitation by delivering high quality,
consistently available, trauma-informed services and programmes
6. Ensure restorative justice is available across Scotland to all those who
wish to access it by promoting and supporting the appropriate and safe
provision of available services
3. Ensure that
services are
accessible and
available to
address the needs
of individuals
accused or
convicted of an
offence
7. Enhance individuals’ access to health and social care and continuity
of care following release from prison by improving the sharing of
information and partnership-working between relevant partners
8. Ensure that the housing needs of individuals in prison are addressed
consistently and at an early stage by fully implementing and embedding
the Sustainable Housing on Release for Everyone (SHORE) standards
across all local authority areas
9. Enhance individual’s life skills and readiness for employment by ensuring
increased access to employability support through effective education,
learning, training, career services and relevant benefit services
10. Enhance community integration and support by increasing and promoting
greater use of voluntary throughcare and third sector services
4. Strengthen
the leadership,
engagement,
and partnership
working of local
and national
community
justice partners
11. Deliver improved community justice outcomes by ensuring that
effective leadership and governance arrangements are in place and
working well, collaborating with partners and planning strategically
12. Enhance partnership planning and implementation by ensuring the
voices of victims of crime, survivors, those with lived experience and
their families are effectively incorporated and embedded
13. Support integration and reduce stigma by ensuring the community
and workforce have an improved understanding of and confidence in
community justice
Table of National Aims
and Priority Actions

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National Strategy for Community Justice 7
Aim 1
Optimise the use of diversion
and intervention at the earliest
opportunity
Where appropriate and relevant, effectively
diverting people away from prosecution –
or away from the justice system entirely
– can allow individuals to address a range
of issues, behaviours or needs which have
contributed to their alleged offending at the
earliest opportunity. This improves outcomes
for both individuals and communities, and
can lead to less offending and reoffending
and, ultimately, fewer victims and harm
to society. We also recognise that those
who come into contact with the justice
system often present with higher levels of
vulnerability than the general population
and often have complex needs. We therefore
want to ensure that, wherever appropriate,
people are diverted away from the justice
system at the earliest opportunity following
arrest, and that suitable, appropriately
informed and tailored opportunities, which
reflect the nature and severity of the alleged
offence, are provided to address underlying
needs and causes of offending behaviour.

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National Strategy for Community Justice 8
Over the duration of this strategy
community justice partners will:
1. Enhance intervention at the earliest
opportunity by ensuring greater
consistency, confidence in and awareness
of services which support the use of
direct measures and diversion from
prosecution
The effective and appropriate use of
police and fiscal direct measures, including
diversion from prosecution, can allow
individuals to address a range of issues,
behaviours or needs which have contributed
to their alleged offending at the earliest
opportunity – including allowing beneficial
interventions to individuals who do not enter
police custody. This may be particularly
effective in supporting those with
dependence on substances or a mental health
need. We must optimise the mechanisms for
direct measures, for example by enhancing
information pathways and supporting
consistency of use by Police Scotland and
COPFS. We must also ensure that effective
services, provided by justice social work
and the third sector, are in place across
Scotland for individuals to be diverted into,
recognising the differences between rural
and urban geographies. These services should
be available in a timely manner and allow
individuals to meaningfully engage. Decision
-makers should also have an understanding
of, and confidence in, the schemes which are
available locally.
2. Improve the identification of underlying
needs and the delivery of support
following arrest by ensuring the
provision of person-centred care within
police custody and building upon referral
opportunities to services including
substance use and mental health services
The Scottish Government takes seriously
the responsibility of ensuring those going
through the justice system are appropriately
supported, treated and cared for, while
ensuring their rights are maintained,
especially during challenging times that may
have a significant impact on people’s mental
wellbeing.
In line with Police Scotland’s commitment
to a public health approach to policing, we
want to ensure that those who are entering
police custody (who, partly due to structural
and systemic barriers, are often less engaged
with community health, social care and other
services and who often experience poorer
health outcomes than the general population)
have their needs identified. We want to
ensure these people can access trauma-
responsive healthcare and/or a pathway
to appropriate support or interventions,
reducing the likelihood of involvement in
offending behaviour in the future.
Arrest referrals and referrals from health
partners are key to this process, ensuring
best use of the ‘contactable moment’ during
a person’s time in police custody. We want
to ensure that individuals can immediately
be referred to a full range of services,
irrespective of their location. Services
should be available at the point of need and
individuals should have choice and control
in relation to their own support and, where
appropriate, be supported to attend services.

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National Strategy for Community Justice 9
There requires to be a focus on the
provision of support for mental health
and substance use issues, including both
drugs and alcohol. There is evidence of
a high prevalence of substance use in
individuals coming into contact with the
justice system. Many people who have died
a drug related death have been in recent
contact with the justice system. Community
justice partnerships should collaborate with
Alcohol and Drugs Partnerships (ADPs) on
the full implementation, embedding and
mainstreaming of the Medication Assisted
Treatment (MAT) standards across Scotland,
especially in justice settings.
Substance use and mental health problems
often go hand-in-hand – and many people
need multi-faceted support simultaneously.
Support may also be available from
healthcare professionals, such as nurses,
who are situated in police custody. Where
appropriate, immediate crisis support
should be provided, and we recognise the
importance of the Distress Brief Intervention
(DBI) Programme which is to be rolled out to
all NHS Board areas by 2024.
Addressing homelessness is also key and
proposals being taken forward in relation
to new Prevention of Homelessness Duties
envisage a duty on public bodies to ‘ask and
act’ about an individual’s housing situation.
The proposals are based on the principles
of shared public responsibility and earlier
intervention to prevent homelessness and
include proposals for the involvement of
partners including Police Scotland, health and
prisons.
Those with communication support needs,
including autistic people and people
with learning disabilities, should also be
proactively identified and supported.
This can include the use of reasonable
adjustments and communication support
from an appropriate adult during police
investigations, where applicable.e.

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National Strategy for Community Justice 10
Aim 2
Ensure that robust and high quality
community interventions and
public protection arrangements
are consistently available across
Scotland
While we are committed to shifting the
balance towards greater use of trauma-
informed and person-centred community
interventions which reflect the appropriate
level of risk – and our long term ambition is
that people should only be held in custody
when they present a risk of serious harm
– public protection is our first priority.
Therefore, we must ensure that there are
robust and high quality community-based
interventions, which support rehabilitation
and help to reduce the number of future
victims, including alternatives to remand,
electronic monitoring and community
sentences. The awareness of, and confidence
in, these interventions must also be
improved, particularly among the judiciary,
prosecutors, victims of crime and the general
public. Restorative justice, which, in the
majority of cases, must be led by those who
have been harmed, can also provide the
opportunity for safe communication between
people harmed by crime and offending,
and those responsible for that harm. This
will improve outcomes for individuals who
are able to remain within more supportive
environments and ensure that victims and
communities feel safe and protected.

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National Strategy for Community Justice 11
Over the duration of this strategy
community justice partners will:
3. Support the use of robust alternatives
to remand by ensuring high quality bail
services are consistently available and
delivered effectively
The safety of the public and people affected
by crime is a priority and remand will
always be necessary in some cases. However,
time on remand can disrupt families and
communities, and adversely affects peoples’
health, employment opportunities and
housing – the factors that are associated with
reoffending. With the remand population
rising to around 30% of the overall prison
population in April 2022, there is a need
to further strengthen community-based
alternatives to remand to ensure bail
services are consistently available where
courts decide that bail is appropriate.
Statutory community justice agencies,
along with local third sector partners,
should work collaboratively to ensure the
appropriate provision of robust alternatives
to remand across all 32 local authority
areas in Scotland. This includes providing
a bail supervision service which meets
the standards of provision set out in
National Guidance, and enabling access to
electronically monitored bail. In light of
the increase in the numbers of individuals
accessing bail supervision in the two years
before the COVID-19 pandemic, partners
must ensure that operational capacity is
strengthened and that all staff delivering bail
services are appropriately trained.
4. Strengthen options for safe and
supported management in the
community by increasing and widening
the use of electronic monitoring
technologies
Electronic monitoring is an integral part of
the justice pathway. Its expanded use creates
opportunities to help people integrate into
the community, and allows for management
of individuals in the community. To support
its use, partners should continue to improve
information sharing and reporting to allow
for appropriate assessments and provision of
services for individuals.
The approach to development and to
gathering robust evidence on the uses
of electronic monitoring, including from
communities, victims of crime and service
users, will be a collaborative one led by
Scottish Government. It will involve a range
of justice partners and help inform future
development.
To widen the availability of electronic
monitoring, it is anticipated that new
technologies, such as satellite tracking
(also known as GPS) and remote substance
monitoring will be introduced. These will
provide more opportunities for managing
and supporting individuals within their
communities. Strong engagement between
health and justice partners will be required
to underpin any use of remote substance
monitoring. All the while building,
maintaining and strengthening relationships
with third sector organisations, to ensure
victims of crime are represented.

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National Strategy for Community Justice 12
5. Ensure that those given community
sentences are supervised and supported
appropriately to protect the public,
promote desistence from offending and
enable rehabilitation by delivering high
quality, consistently available, trauma-
informed services and programmes
Recovery of capacity in the justice system
and community justice services following the
impact of the COVID-19 pandemic remains a
priority. Our ambitions are however greater
than returning the system to pre-pandemic
levels. We want to see a greater availability
of high quality community orders which are
as effective as possible and which improve
outcomes for individuals, families and their
communities. Effective interventions require
proactive involvement across community
justice partners and the third sector,
and the consideration of the local needs
and priorities of different communities.
Individuals can have complex needs and
a range of support has to be considered,
including from a whole family perspective.
This requires collaboration across services
and partners.
Working both within existing resources,
where possible, and with any additional
funding available, community justice partners
should take steps to increase the quality
and range of interventions. These should
include support aligned with assessment
of need, including support in relation to
addiction, mental health and wellbeing,
with interventions focussed on the causes
of offending and opportunities to improve
transitions to positive destinations such as
employment, training and further education.
Partners should also work with the Scottish
Government to develop plans to better
support people with substance use issues in
community justice, which will be informed
by the recommendations of the Drug Deaths
Taskforce.
Community justice partners, when they
come together as part of community justice
partnerships, should ensure that partnership
work has appropriate links to MAPPA (Multi-
Agency Public Protection Arrangements)
and MARAC (Multi-Agency Risk Assessment
Conferences) to understand areas of mutual
interest. This does not mean duplicating
functions, rather it is about ensuring local
services are not developed in isolation. Our
ambition also is to expand the coverage of
existing national programmes that support
public protection (MF2C and Caledonian), that
match the risk and need profile identified
nationally, and reduce the prospect of further
harm. A partnership approach should be
taken to programme roll out and redesign
and partners will contribute, including
through data held, to their evaluation and
development.
6. Ensure restorative justice is available
across Scotland to all those who wish to
access it by promoting and supporting
the appropriate and safe provision of
available services
Restorative justice supports the exploration
and delivery of safe, voluntary and
facilitated communication between people
harmed by crime and offending and those
responsible for that harm. Consistent, high-
quality, trauma-informed restorative justice
can empower individuals and communities
impacted by harmful behaviour and assist in
their recovery, and can encourage those who
have caused harm to reflect on the impact of
their actions, helping to reduce recidivism.
We recognise that people harmed may
request access to restorative justice in
sensitive cases involving sexual harm and
coercive control. We are working with
partners to design services to respond
appropriately to these requests. Restorative
justice will only be offered in such cases
where the request comes from the person
harmed and they can stop the process at any
time. A trauma-informed and comprehensive
risk framework will be created for facilitating
these cases that will have the individual
needs and safety of the person harmed at
the centre.

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National Strategy for Community Justice 13
The vision of the Restorative Justice Action
Plan includes a commitment to having
restorative justice services available across
Scotland to all those who wish to access it, at
a time that is appropriate to the people and
case involved. While the achievement of this
commitment is ultimately the responsibility
of the Scottish Government, the model for
delivery of restorative justice in Scotland
requires an effective link with community
justice partners and local communities
to support implementation. Community
justice partners should support the aims
and objectives of the Action Plan, by raising
awareness of restorative justice services
which are available locally, ensuring that
staff in relevant services are attending
national awareness and facilitation training,
and that any restorative justice service
within the area is supported to make contact
with relevant local support services to help
address the needs of those accessing (or
wishing to access) restorative justice.

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National Strategy for Community Justice 14
Aim 3
Ensure that services are accessible
and available to address the needs
of individuals accused or convicted
of an offence
When an individual is in contact with the
justice system, there is an opportunity to
ensure that they are able to engage with
the services that they will require in order
to support their basic needs, to rehabilitate
themselves, and not reoffend. We equally
recognise the need to prioritise victims’
safe recovery from harm and trauma. While
justice services and specialised throughcare
services can plan and support the transition
of individuals through and out of the
justice system, effective integration and
reintegration can only be delivered through
the engagement of our universal public
services (such as healthcare, employability
support, benefits, and housing). These
services must ascertain and be aware of
the needs and circumstances of people with
convictions (particularly those serving a
custodial sentence) and those on remand, and
be prepared to meet those needs in a timely
fashion. We recognise wider ongoing work to
improve the provision of universal services
and the ability that community justice
partners have to take action to improve
engagement with services, particularly in the
transition from custody to community.

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National Strategy for Community Justice 15
Over the duration of this strategy
community justice partners will:
7. Enhance individuals’ access to health
and social care and continuity of care
following release from prison by
improving the sharing of information and
partnership-working between relevant
partners
Prisons should be health promoting
environments which support good health
and wellbeing. There are many complex
needs for which individuals require person-
centred support on entering and leaving
custody, including: rising social care needs as
the population ages, neurodivergent people,
those with learning disabilities, those who
have experienced trauma and adversity
and those who may experience complex
physical and mental health needs, and
substance use difficulties. We are clear that
early intervention, person-centred, trauma-
responsive, rights-based and collaborative
approaches are key to improving outcomes.
Partners should work together to ensure that
both relevant information is made available
on admission to support the healthcare needs
of individuals while they are in custody and
that transition from custody to community
is seamless, with health needs supported to
ensure successful reintegration where people
do not experience stigma and discrimination
upon accessing services. This is particularly
the case when an individual is being released
from prison to a different location in
Scotland, and it is key that all health boards
commit to having robust arrangements
in place which facilitate the appropriate
sharing of health information across
geographical boundaries. This will involve
collaborative working across multi-agency
partnerships, digitalisation, ensuring that
there are information sharing agreements
where required, and shared support plans,
including, where appropriate, care packages,
and ensuring that there is shared awareness
and understanding about what each
organisation involved in health does and
that guidance and training is in place. For
example, the Scottish Prison Service should,
where appropriate, issue individuals with a
liberation letter, which provides a proof of
identity (which can be used to help register
with a GP practice) and GP practices should
ensure that they comply with the relevant
guidance. The relevant NHS Circular notes
that no documents are required to register
with a GP and that the inability by a patient
to provide identification or proof of address
is not considered reasonable grounds to
refuse or delay registering a patient.
8. Ensure that the housing needs of
individuals in prison are addressed
consistently and at an early stage by
fully implementing and embedding
the Sustainable Housing on Release for
Everyone (SHORE) standards across all
local authority areas
Evidence suggests that people who have
access to stable housing are less likely to
reoffend. The SHORE standards promote a
nationally consistent approach in meeting the
housing needs of individuals in contact with
the justice system – this approach is person-
centred, trauma-informed, and prevents
homelessness at liberation. SHORE should
ensure that everyone who needs housing
support is appropriately engaged in the
process with their individual needs identified
at the earliest opportunity. Subsequently,
individuals should receive timely housing
advice and support which identifies and
secures suitable and sustainable housing for
their release into the community, no matter,
where they are serving their sentence.
SHORE outlines the processes which should
be followed from admission to post release,
these are:
•	 co-ordinate efforts to maintain existing
tenancies and possessions;
•	 minimise instances of emergency
homelessness upon liberation; and
•	 provide suitable and sustainable tenancies
on release that individuals are supported
to maintain, including Housing First, if
appropriate.

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National Strategy for Community Justice 16
In order to fully implement and embed
SHORE, partners should develop and engage
within multi-agency protocols that address
the needs of relevant individuals (including
employability, homelessness and health
and social care needs; including substance
use and mental health) and describe the
local processes between community justice
partners and prisons. In addition, the Scottish
Government/COSLA’s Ending Homelessness
Together Action Plan promotes Housing First
as the default response to homelessness for
people with multiple and complex needs.
This covers addictions, mental health and
repeated interactions with the justice
system. We know that several Scottish local
authorities have adapted their Housing First
services to support people leaving prison,
to ensure that those who would benefit
from Housing First support are allocated
a permanent tenancy with suitable wrap
around support upon release where possible.
The main focus of SHORE is on people
entering and leaving prison, however,
as reflected in the SHORE standards, we
recognise the potential to consider the wider
justice pathway, including at the point of
arrest, and those who are released directly
from court. We recognise that this further
work may be assisted through the envisioned
future introduction of the Homelessness
Prevention Duties.
9. Enhance individual’s life skills and
readiness for employment by ensuring
increased access to employability
support through effective education,
learning, training, career services and
relevant benefit services
Being employed has been shown to be
associated with reduced reoffending. The
way we support individuals to undertake
training and education pathways with a
view to accessing, retaining and sustaining
employment before, during and after
they are involved in the justice system is
therefore critical. Community justice partners
should take a person-centred approach,
recognising that individuals are at different
stages of the employability pathway and
that not all individuals serving community
sentences, in custody, or leaving custody are
‘employment ready’. Additional needs such as
addiction, healthcare, benefits and housing
support may need to be addressed before
an individual is ready to develop skills to
sustain employment. Individuals may also
require opportunities to develop skills in a
supported work environment and individuals
with additional support needs including
communication support needs may require
reasonable adjustments to be made, in order
to bridge the gap between employability
support and sustainable employment.
However, some employers are speaking out
to highlight that when appropriately selected
and given support where appropriate,
individuals with previous convictions can
not only secure and sustain employment, but
can prove to be committed and successful
employees.
We also recognise the beneficial changes
made by the Management of Offenders
(Scotland) Act 2019 to reduce the Disclosure
periods for certain past criminal convictions.
We would encourage partners (with an
interest in employability) to help to ensure
that people with criminal convictions are
aware of these changes and their positive
impact when seeking employment.

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National Strategy for Community Justice 17
No One Left Behind is the Scottish and Local
Government’s partnership approach to an
all age employability service working with
partners at a local, regional and national
level to deliver a person-centred, place-
based design and delivery approach. In
implementing this commitment, community
justice partners should ensure that there are
direct pathways between the justice system
and employability services, in particular
with Local Employability Partnerships (LEPs)
which operate in every local authority
area to provide support to individuals to
progress into and sustain quality jobs. We
also recognise the strong links between work
to improve employability outcomes and
work to widen access to higher education.
Additionally, engaging families and family
learning are critical components in the
“theory of change” which underpins the
Scottish Attainment Challenge. Employability
leads should engage with SPS, justice social
work and others to continually develop and
enhance relationships, policy and processes,
enhance community links, and ensure that
the pathways to employability are supported
at each key stage. In particular Skills
Development Scotland can champion issues
relating to community justice and assist,
with other local partners, in improving the
employability outcomes of individuals who
have criminal convictions within LEPs.
Leading by example, statutory partners
should also examine their own recruitment
processes to ensure that people with unspent
criminal convictions are not, in practical
terms, being unnecessarily excluded from the
possibility of employment.
10. Enhance community integration and
support by increasing and promoting
greater use of voluntary throughcare and
third sector services
When an individual is released from custody,
they are likely to have been disconnected
from mainstream public services, and will
potentially need additional support to re-
engage. This is a vulnerable time, where
any gaps or failures in the delivery of
support can have severe consequences
for the individual, leading to an increased
demand for emergency support services,
or potentially a return to offending and a
return to custody. To support individuals,
there are a range of statutory and voluntary
throughcare services available, as well
as third sector and specialised services
which engage with individuals, depending
on their individual circumstances. On
release, individuals can request voluntary
throughcare assistance provided by local
authorities – either from a justice social
work officer supervising them after release,
or from local authority / justice social work
if they are not subject to supervision. Local
Authorities have a statutory responsibility
to offer voluntary throughcare, which
consists of advice, guidance and assistance to
individuals who request such a service either
before release from custody or within 12
months of their release.
Partners should work together to ensure that
effective throughcare support services are
in place and consistently offered, working
in co-ordination with the activities of the
SPS, justice social work and other public
services supporting individuals and meeting
the specific needs of different groups of
individuals interacting with the justice
system. This will involve robust co-ordination
and planning processes being in place across
justice, public and third sector services,
to plan those activities in co-operation
with individuals. There is also a need to
ensure that public services are aware of
the particular needs and challenges faced
by individuals in the justice system, and
for them to pro-actively engage with that
population at the earliest stage, to ensure
their needs are supported.

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National Strategy for Community Justice 18
Aim 4
Strengthen the leadership,
engagement, and partnership
working of local and national
community justice partners
It is necessary for community justice
partners to work together to adopt a
strategic approach to planning and delivering
improved outcomes, and lasting change for
individuals and communities. This includes
ensuring the active involvement of the
third sector, relevant community-based
organisations, communities and people
who use local services (including people
with convictions, victims and families) in
the planning and delivery of community
justice within their areas. Ensuring that
victims feel supported, that their voice
is heard and that they are empowered
to participate effectively in their justice
journey is critical to achieving an inclusive
justice system. Central to the strategy is
also the need to ensure that the Scottish
public, communities and workforce have an
improved understanding of, and confidence
in, community justice.

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National Strategy for Community Justice 19
Over the duration of this strategy
community justice partners will:
11. Deliver improved community justice
outcomes by ensuring that effective
leadership and governance arrangements
are in place and working well,
collaborating with partners and planning
strategically
It is the collective responsibility of statutory
partners to ensure the achievement of
community justice outcomes, and the
legislative requirements within the
Act, rather than partnership chairs or
coordinators. Community justice should be
embedded as a key consideration within the
priorities of each community justice partner.
Implementation of the delivery plan should
be prioritised, and roles and responsibilities
must be understood, with staff empowered
to become leaders within their organisations.
Strong, inclusive and innovative leadership
is required, at both local and national
level, with effective accountability and
communication mechanisms between
national organisations and their
representatives driving community justice
partnership activity locally, in addition to
collective local partnership accountability
arrangements. Community Justice Scotland
will support partners by providing advice,
guidance and assistance to the community
justice partnerships and making national and
local improvement recommendations where
appropriate, supporting strong governance
and accountability.
The effective provision of data is vital to the
success of strategic planning and to allow the
measurement of progress against outcomes.
Statutory community justice partners
must work with both Community Justice
Scotland and partnerships to ensure that all
partnerships receive necessary information
in a regular and systematic way.
At a local level, community justice
partnerships should:
•	 clearly define their remit, and ensure
effective collaboration with Community
Planning Partnerships (CPPs), and
alignment to Local Outcomes Improvement
Plans (LOIPs),and other community
planning groups (and vice versa). As
previously stated, the focus of this strategy
is from the point of arrest onwards
and we would encourage community
justice partnerships to focus their action
from this point onwards, as opposed
to on primary prevention. The Violence
Prevention Framework for Scotland, due
to be published later in 2022, will include
a focus on primary prevention given the
importance of preventing violence from
happening in the first instance. However,
community justice partners will play a
crucial role in secondary and tertiary
prevention to help people access the
support they need to help stop further
offending and more people ending up in
the justice system.
•	 carry out strategic planning, monitoring
and reporting activity to ensure the
identification of local priorities. This will
include maintaining a current evidence
base and an understanding of local needs
and service provision. Identified local
improvement priorities should be clearly
presented within the Community Justice
Outcomes Improvement Plan (CJOIP).
These activities and a robust use of
programme and project management (PPM)
methodologies (with SMART actions) should
underpin the targeting of resources to
improvement activity identified in CJOIPs.
This may include targeting engagement
with partners in line with topics where
they can add value.
•	 seek to secure the contribution of partners
and other stakeholders, including the
third sector (and reflect this in their
participation statements), to help bolster
community justice resources. This can
include information sharing, co-ordinated
planning and joined-up services, as well
as contributing staff and other resources
(including across local authority boundaries),
as required to meet the community justice
outcomes noted in local plans.

Page 21

National Strategy for Community Justice 20
• work across boundaries, to coordinate
and allocate resources strategically so
that, with a proportional input, they can
collectively deliver services which have
a larger impact on outcomes. This is in
recognition of the different populations of
community justice partnership areas.
• work across regional and operational
boundaries to facilitate peer learning, share
best practice and enhance co-ordination of
improvement activities.
12. Enhance partnership planning and
implementation by ensuring the voices
of victims of crime, survivors, those with
lived experience and their families are
effectively incorporated and embedded
Ultimately, we want victims of crime and
families impacted by the justice system to
feel heard, understood and empowered to
participate in their justice journey.
In order to understand what is important to
our communities and to promote inclusivity,
community justice partners should ensure
that those with lived experience of the
justice system, including victims of crime,
have the opportunity to appropriately and
effectively participate. Their experience
should be represented in order to inform
policy development, implementation, and the
design and delivery of services.
Community justice partners also need to
have an awareness of, and effectively
promote, the support that is available for
victims of crime and families impacted by
the justice system, both nationally and in
their area complementing the work of third
sector organisations and other local planning
partnerships, for example ADPs and VAW
Partnerships.
This should help identify how partnerships
can contribute towards the achievement
of improved outcomes for victims of crime
and families impacted by the justice system,
through the signposting and provision of
information and inclusive person-centred
and trauma-informed support, and helping to
ensure they are safe and well.
13. Support integration and reduce stigma by
ensuring the community and workforce
have an improved understanding of and
confidence in community justice
Partners should work to improve the
visibility of community justice and ensure it
is positioned as an important part of the local
and national justice landscape. Specifically,
partners should work collaboratively to
improve understanding and confidence in
community justice amongst the Scottish
public and the local justice workforce. Senior
leaders of community justice partners,
in particular, should seek to champion
community justice within their organisations
and across community planning. In particular,
they should clearly communicate what their
organisation is seeking to deliver towards
the achievement of the community justice
priority actions. Partners should ensure
their communications are trauma-informed,
utilise the National Standards for Community
Engagement and the resources provided by
Community Justice Scotland. Community
Justice Scotland have a statutory duty to
promote public understanding of community
justice and the benefits associated with it.
Partners can then build on this foundation
to shift attitudes and increase support
for community justice as an approach, for
example through communicating the benefits
of unpaid work to local communities. This
can in turn support integration and reduce
stigma, leading to improved community
justice outcomes.
© Crown copyright 2022
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where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-
government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National
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This publication is available at www.gov.scot
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ISBN: 978-1-80435-658-6 (web only)
Published by The Scottish Government, June 2022
Produced for The Scottish Government by APS Group Scotland, 21 Tennant Street, Edinburgh EH6 5NA
PPDAS 1110262 (06/22)
w w w . g o v . s c o t

Page 22

© Crown copyright 2022
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except
where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-
government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National
Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to
obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at www.gov.scot
Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at
The Scottish Government
St Andrew’s House
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
ISBN: 978-1-80435-658-6 (web only)
Published by The Scottish Government, June 2022
Produced for The Scottish Government by APS Group Scotland, 21 Tennant Street, Edinburgh EH6 5NA
PPDAS 1110262 (06/22)
w w w . g o v . s c o t