Unit to watch serious criminals is a success

Thursday 27 March 2014

A new supervising unit set up to reduce re-offending rates helped 85% of the serious criminals it monitors to stay out of trouble last year.

The Jersey Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (JMAPPA) unit that combines police, probation and States departments and was set up in 2011 to manage sex offenders and violent criminals as well as potentially dangerous people who have not been convicted of an offence.

According to figures out today, only ten offenders being supervised by the unit committed an offence last year, and most were minor public order crimes. One offender being managed by the unit was jailed for offences related to indecent images of children.

States of Jersey Police Detective superintendent Stewart Gull - the detective who led the team that caught "Suffolk strangler" serial killer Steve Wright in Ipswich in 2006 - said that the unit had been incredibly successful.

He said: "In the few years it has been established the JMAPPA process has been incredibly successful, as shown in the re-offending rates.

“Each subject is managed based on their offending behaviour and risk. This however, is not an infallible science and we continue to give training and advice to all agencies involved in the process.

“In essence the goal for all agencies as part of this partnership is to manage these offenders supporting them within the community but offenders have to take personal responsibility for their behaviour and conduct."