"This has honestly changed my life" - Evaluating the Efficacy of Community Sentence Treatment Requirements

The use of treatment requirements as part of a community sentence (community orders and suspended sentence orders) is low and has been decreasing. Barriers in relation to the use of such orders, centred on uncertainty regarding who should receive community sentence treatment requirements in addition to both low awareness and confidence among criminal justice and health professionals were identified. Sefton Magistrates’ Court was identified as one of the testbed sites in England in 2017 for the use of a protocol which developed pathways into treatment (Alcohol Treatment Requirements, Drug Rehabilitation Requirements and Mental Health Treatment Requirements) for offenders and improved partnership working.

This chapter focusses on Mental Health Treatment Requirements (MHTR) in particular and explores the experience of staff, stakeholders and service users. It examines the lived experience of service users who engaged with an MHTR as part of their community sentence and also discusses outcomes of the CSTR protocol as an approach in community sentencing.