Intensive Community Order
A local evaluation of the Intensive Alternative to Custody Pilot in Leeds
An Intensive Community Order (ICO) allows meaningful, intensive work to address issues behind offending behaviour and is a real alternative to a short prison sentence where such work is often impossible.
With an ICO, because the offender remains in the community they can retain positive factors including employment, accommodation and relationships which all help to reduce reoffending but are often lost during a short prison sentence.
The ICOs were introduced across West Yorkshire after the successful Intensive Alternative to Custody pilot projects in Leeds and Bradford. (See the links on the left for the local and national evaluations of Intensive Alternative to Custody).
The ICO works slightly differently in each district to take into account local need and partner organisations. They can include a range of options from The Community Order including an Activity Requirements, Supervision Requirement, Community Payback, curfew, restriction requirement and more. In each case Probation will propose the elements to be included and the final decision will be made by the sentencer in that case.
Each ICO includes:
- up to five enforceable weekly contacts with Probation and local community organisations;
- specialist ICO Probation Officers (not all districts);
- tailored intervention packages to meet the offender's needs;
- close links with the Police Offender Management Unit including intelligence sharing around risk assessment, risk management and offending behaviour;
- high victim focus including Restorative Justice which brings the offender together with their victim to enable the victim to ask questions and the offender to hear the impact of their crime and take responsibility for their behaviour;
- a robust and swift fast track breach processes ensuring an early return to court in the event of non compliance.
