THE Director General of the Probation Service has visited Canterbury to launch a tougher community punishment order scheme aimed at cutting re-offending.

Enhanced Community Punishment is being introduced nationwide and will focus on offenders' anti-social attitudes, poor thinking ability and lack of employment skills.

But the director general, Eithne Wallis insists the new approach will not be at the expense of the punishment part of the order, which features rigorously supervised work for local good causes.

Mrs Wallis visited a scheme at the Royal National Institute for the Deaf home in St Dunstan's Street, Canterbury, where a working party of five offenders is helping to build a wheelchair path through the garden.

She said: "Community punishment has now been in operation for 30 years and has made great strides in that time. It is strictly applied and enforced and gives offenders new skills that change anti-social behaviour, makes meaningful amends to local communities and is designed to reduce offending.

"Those who are cynical about its effectiveness should see the offenders at work and the results for beneficiaries like here at the RNID where something good is coming out of something bad.

"It has a good track-reading of reducing re-offending and the most up-to-date evidence is that it is more effective in that respect than prison. It is punishment with a purpose."

According to the latest statistics, more than half of those convicted of offences and sentenced to community service do not re-offend within two years of completing their orders.

Mrs Wallis said the aim of the Enhanced Punishment Order was to cut re-offending rates by a further five per cent.

Among those working on the pathway project at the home was Gareth who had been sentenced to 60 hours community punishment for assault.

He said: "I have never been to prison but was staring custody in the face. I was grateful to be offered the chance of doing community punishment. I am getting satisfaction from doing a good job for a good cause and it has made me think a lot about my future. There is no way I am going to re-offend."

Jimmy, who is serving a maximum 240 hours for motoring offences, added: "I am learning some new skills and getting help with my literacy too. Hopefully, they will help me in the future."