Management of Offenders etc. (Scotland) Act 2005
The Management of Offenders etc. (Scotland) Act 2005 was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 3 November 2005 and recieved Royal Assent on 8 December 2005. The primary purpose of the Act is to improve the integrated management of offenders with the aim of reducing reoffending.
The Act estabished the provisions for the Community Justice Authorities (CJAs), as well as a number of other provisions including:
- to establish a Home Detention Curfew scheme
- to strengthen the system for dealing with serious and sexual offenders
- to enable recovery of compensation paid by Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority from offenders who later acquire the means to pay.
Integrated Management of Offenders
The primary objective of the Act is to improve the management of offenders through greater integration of the activities of criminal justice agencies with the ultimate aim of reducing levels of reoffending in Scotland. The Executive is seeking to achieve this through tackling barriers in the current offender management process to promote a system which allows for the seamless management of offenders.
Information Sharing
In order for the area partnership plans for managing offenders to be successful it is crucial that good communication links exist between CJAs, local authorities, the SPS and other criminal justice agencies. The Act established new duties on these criminal justice agencies to co-operate and share information.
The Act also places a statutory duty on police, local authorities, and the SPS to establish joint arrangements for assessing the risk of sex offenders - including the effective sharing of information.