MANY people automatically dislike the merest suggestion that society should seek to work with offenders whose crimes would ordinarily merit custodial sentences. “Soft” justice for persistent offenders is, they would argue, justice denied. But there is increasing evidence that innovative approaches to certain categories of people can have positive results. The operation of “problem-solving” courts, for example, is being studied with keen interest.

In England, the Family Drug & Alcohol Court (FDAC) aims to improve outcomes for children in care proceedings and help parents overcome the challenging personal issues – substance misuse, domestic abuse, mental health problems– that have put the children at risk of serious harm. In FDAC’s words, the approach offers parents optimism about recovery and change.

Encouraging, if preliminary, results have now been reported from the Aberdeen Problem-Solving Approach (PSA), which seeks to reduce reoffending and the use of custodial sentences by focusing on underlying problems linked with persistent, low-level offending. That most of the offenders have at least 10 prior convictions and have served three spells in custody suggests that prison does not work for them.

The project, the first of its kind in Scotland, works closely with women and young men who have multiple complex needs. Rather than being imprisoned, they receive a deferred sentence and talk to social workers and support workers about the underlying problems linked to their offending. A sheriff reviews their progress periodically, praising, warning or encouraging as he or she sees fit.

The professionals seem to be impressed by the approach, and many offenders report positive outcomes. There is a noticeable rate of failure, the reasons for which include the offenders having unstable substance use or being influenced by family or associates. Prison has to remain a fall-back for those who ignore the chance they have been given.

The Aberdeen numbers are on the modest side, but anything that can ultimately enable persistent offenders to change their habits and get on with their lives in a way that benefits them, their families, and society, is an idea worth pursuing. More research is needed into its long-term effects and who it works for. It is essential, too, that housing, social work, drug support and other community resources must be available if the scheme is to flourish.

With reconviction rates in Scotland are now at a 19-year low, Justice Minister Humza Yousaf has spoken of a focus on rehabilitation and partnership-working to help people with court convictions to turn their lives around.

The Aberdeen scheme is part of this. It deserves to succeed.