#probation

#probation

Ministers are pushing through powers to photograph, name and shame offenders who have been ordered to complete unpaid community work in England and Wales. The sentencing bill, now moving through parliament, will for the first time give probation officers a legal power to take and publish the names and pictures of individuals ordered by courts to tidy grass verges, litter-pick or scrub graffiti.

Serious violent crime in England and Wales should be expected to rise unless urgent steps are taken to boost the probation service. That is the alarming warning from Martin Jones, HM chief inspector of probation. He estimates that 100,000 offenders on probation are currently not being properly managed. This overstretched service cannot be expected to manage the increased workload that will follow from sentencing reforms.

Nearly all of the 58 students placed on probation - the highest number since at least the 2017-2018 academic year - were disciplined for participating in a November 2023 pro-Palestine occupation of University Hall and an April to May 2024 pro-Palestine encampment at Harvard Yard, according to the Crimson. An additional 31 students were "formally admonished" but not placed on probation.

Kevin Jimenez, 25, was sentenced to six months of house arrest and two years of probation for possessing child sexual abuse material on an OnlyFans account.