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MAPPA annual report 2010/11 is published |
Hertfordshire MAPPA's tenth annual report was published this week, giving statistics for the number of sex-offenders and violent offenders living in Hertfordshire in 2010/11.
The report shows one of England's lowest numbers of registered sex-offenders living in the community per head of population: 513 per 100,000.
It also shows that over the course of the year 88 sex offenders, 77 violent offenders and 43 "other dangerous" offenders of high risk to the public were managed through the Hertfordshire Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements.
Of these, three high risk sex-offenders and seven high-risk violent offenders were returned to prison for failing to comply with their order.
The MAPPA, introduced nationally in 2001, are a way of ensuring that the most dangerous people living in our communities are monitored intensively by the three lead agencies - probation, police, prison - with input from other relevant organisations, such as mental health, housing, education and youth-offending.
Monthly meetings are held to review cases, share information and to monitor risk, looking out particularly for changes in an offender's behaviour or circumstances that could lead to increased risk to the public. They also agree what practical support the agencies can give offenders to make them less likely to re-offend.
The work of the agencies with sex-offenders is supported by volunteers working as part of the East of England Circles of Support and Accountability network. Supervised by expert practitioners, volunteers from a wide range of backgrounds have been trained to provide practical and emotional support to sex-offenders. Social isolation is known to play a crucial part in sex-offenders re-offending.
In addition Hertfordshire, working closely with the police, have begun using GPS-monitored tracking devices with MAPPA offenders. This means a tagged offender's whereabouts can be monitored by the minute, and if they visit an area from which they have been excluded that information shows up on a computer.
Steve Johnson-Proctor, Director of Operations at Hertfordshire Probation Trust and Chair of the MAPPA Board, said: "The figures show a relatively low number of high-risk sexual and violent offenders for Hertfordshire, consistent with Hertfordshire generally being a very safe place in which to live in terms of overall crime.
"As Chair of the MAPPA Board, I'm very pleased with the way agencies across the county pull together to ensure these people are appropriately monitored and provided with the support they need to reduce their risk of re-offending.
"I'm also very grateful to the Circles volunteers who give their time to support offenders and thereby also help to prevent further victims. It's testament to the fantastic volunteering culture we have in Hertfordshire that people are prepared to give up their free time to work in this way."
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Last Updated on Friday, 28 October 2011 13:59 |
