Offenders� adherence to their community sentences could be reviewed and monitored by �progress courts� in future, under proposals being considered by the Scottish Government.
Offenders' adherence to their community sentences could be reviewed and monitored by "progress courts" in future, under proposals being considered by the Scottish Government.
Officials and police have already discussed the move, which is aimed at improving public confidence in the robustness of non-custodial sentences and ensuring better compliance rates from criminals.
The development comes following figures which project that the prison population will reach almost 10,000 in 10 years if present trends continue.
Scotland already has one of the highest per capita prison populations in Europe and officials have confirmed the country's prison estate is in crisis, and beyond its "safe" capacity.
Earlier this year, the Scottish Prisons Commission, headed by former first minister Henry McLeish, recommended tougher community sentences and an end to almost all short jail terms.
The commission suggested reducing the prison population by 4000 and using special progress courts to check on the compliance of offenders given community penalties.
Kenny MacAskill, the Justice Secretary, is expected to announce his response to the commission next month and is likely to call for wide- reaching reforms across the criminal justice sector.
Progress courts, or review courts as some call them, are expected to be part of that.
A senior police officer said: "We need to ensure that once someone is dealt with, that there is a positive outcome. Two or three years down the line I could see that a perpetrator would be dealt with by a court, perhaps a specialist court, and then would be referred on to a review court which would check on their adherence to the programme and perhaps offer mentors.
"I understand this is what will happen following the prisons commission."
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said they are "considering" the move, but have not yet finalised their response to the McLeish commission.
The principle of returning for review was established with the drugs court, which focuses on the relationship between sheriff and offender. There is also an element of review with Drug Treatment and Testing Orders, but it does not apply to community service.
Mr MacAskill has made clear that he wants far wider use of community service and for it to be arranged faster and more efficiently, with a visible payback for the community in question.
It is not yet clear whether the review would take place with the same sheriff - as in the case of the drugs court - or if it would be a separate court specialising solely in encouraging compliance with new community sentences and programmes.
The commission recommends the establishment of progress courts that enable swift and regular review of progress. Their report states: "An important merit of the progress court is that it would end the current situation where the progress of community sentences is invisible to both judges and communities - and where they only hear about community sentences when they fail. Our view is that this skews perceptions and undermines both judicial and public confidence.
"As we have already indicated, other initiatives to make the payback involved in community supervision sentences more visible will be required too.
"This does not and should not mean stigmatising and shaming offenders as they go about paying back; to do so would be counter-productive. But it does and should mean that much greater effort goes into communication with the communities in which payback takes place."
Last month, a daily average of 7376 people were held in Scotland's jails and a further 309 were on home detention curfew. In 2017, those figures will reach 9600 and 380 if current trends continue.
