ABSTRACT
Despite all the panic about sexual crime, the sentencing statistics suggest that the probation service has scarcely increased its level of involvement with sex offenders. The increasingly tough approach of the courts towards the sentencing of sex offenders has meant that one-third of those convicted of sexual crime are now sent straight to custody. Of the others, around one-third are fined and a further fifth are either conditionally discharged or receive a suspended prison sentence. Less than 15 per cent receive a community sentence which involves supervision by a probation officer. The proportion of sex offenders placed on probation in 1989 remained at 12 per cent, exactly the same as it was in 1980. On those figures, it can scarcely be said that the probation service has responded significantly to the new challenge.
