This has been a really interesting week starting with, rather bizarrely, sitting in the Empire, Leicester Square, watching the screening of the Fear Factory. Very decadent for a Monday morning. However, an interesting and challenging new documentary that exposes the history, mechanics and extent of fear mongering that has led to the UK’s criminal justice crisis. The film has given rise to a coalition of over 40 organisations, including Make Justice Work, which calls for an end to the political arms race on law and order. 

I then attended a seminar hosted by BT and Alan Duncan to explore the key recommendations of the parliamentary inquiry into Primary Justice.  This remains a hot topic which needs lots of fleshing out. Do check out the report: Primary Justice: an inquiry into justice in communities www.lgiu.org.uk.  

The main thread which has run through my week is that those of us involved in communicating to the public around the issues of prison overcrowding, lack of public confidence in community sentences and simple straightforward information about how the criminal justice system works for them, should be pooling our knowledge and ideas to try and seriously improve the level of public understanding about what is really going on today around criminal justice. We need to work together.

22.02.10

Just in case anyone should think going to prison for a couple of months is of more use than building bird boxes (see Bird-brained Justice, Daily Mail, 20^th February 2010), then they should think again. There is no evidence that a short time in prison has any rehabilitative effect on young offenders. Sadly, the reporting of the new Making Good programme failed to explain that it is the public who are invited to choose suitable programmes for these youngsters to pay back to their community for what they have done.  As we all know, young “criminals’ are notoriously difficult to steer away for yobbish behaviour but at least the public are now being given a chance to be involved with the type of punishment they see as appropriate and see the results of their involvement. In fact looking at the testimonials so far with this new programme, it looks pretty positive.

So perhaps this suggests that the public are not as punitive as the papers might like to think they are and that as usual we are being thrown outlandish headlines like titbits to the crowds at the Roman Colosseum. I had rather hoped that nowadays the way we punish people is more just and humane…

The Restorative Justice Consortium’s conference on Thursday was insightful and encouraging. The range and depth of knowledge exhibited by the speakers was very impressive and the case for restorative justice is becoming increasingly more persuasive – as if we could ever have doubted it. If a new government can grasp the economic and efficacy rationale behind mainstreaming restorative justice, there can only be a win win situation. It really is time for the policy makers to start taking on board much of the common sense evidence based approaches which are being presented by the criminal justice experts to support the needs of victims – for the sake of the public and the public purse.

David Cameron’s mission to use prison ships to get himself out of the overcrowding/early release problems are ill thought-through and utterly counterproductive to his rehabilitation revolution vision.

What he appears to completely miss is that a large proportion of prisoners are low-level offenders on short-term sentences who should not be locked up in the first place. Cameron could quite sensibly use the prison ship money to arrange suitable punishment for these offenders in the community.  Despite some scepticism for community sentences, they are in fact much for effective at reducing re-offending for this particular group of persistent but low-level, non-violent offenders. Only by diverting resources into community provision can we ever hope to stem the numbers flowing into our prison system and put pride into community sentences.

This week heralds the publication of a major new report from the House of Commons  Justice Committee.  It offers a stiff and unrelenting reminder to the state of this country’s odd economic attitude towards criminal justice.  Never before has this country faced such an enormous bill for a crime level which is in fact dropping.  It strikes me that when
trying to save money in our own lives the key features of any good budget is that what we purchase is value for money and works (either tastes good or doesn’t break in  five minutes).  Our country’s existing budgetary approach  to less crime and less victims runs counter intuitive to this. The system of locking up people in prison for short sentences when  they are not dangerous and could be punished in the community is neither value for  money nor does it work.

As a cross party report, surely this should provide government with a neutral and objective opportunity for change:  reverse the prison building programme, invest in communities and stop politicising criminal justice policy. This  report shows what works – trust it and act on it.

As we move into the silly season leading up to the election, let’s hope for less point scoring and more sensible and rational debates around criminal justice. With the Tories now thankfully back tracking on the expansion of an already expanding prison system, will they dare to stand by their rehabilitation revolution?

It is absolutely pointless pouring more money into prison places if it is not supported by well invested programmes inside prisons but most importantly, then replicated outside in the community.  If a new government really wants to impress the public, and critically, victims, then it must rethink just where it spends its limited resources.  Surely common sense tells us that family and educational support, drug and alcohol programmes, housing and employment remain the core to reducing someone’s offending behaviour?  No more quick fixes, please.

30.11.09

As part of my wider remit, last week I attended the Prison Radio Association’s second annual conference at Warwick University.  We have come a long way in the last 12 months – we  have a three contract with the Prison Service and  are setting up the world’s first national prison radio service!  As always it is the prison radio clips done by prisoners with their tutors and radio station managers which remind us why radio is such a unique  confidence raising and educational tool.

Prisoners continue to surprise us with their extraodinary story telling and ability to deliver cutting edge radio.

On Thursday on behalf of the Griffins Society, Clinks, Women in Prison and the MOJ I co-chaired the Women in Focus conference  celebrating much of the excellent work which has come out of the Corston Agenda and the subsequent funding.  Maria Eagle remains the exemplary champion for women offenders and again, it was listening to Wendy Cranmer who is one the Griffins trustees, tell the story of her experience of going into the criminal justice system that confirms that we must do absolutely everything we can to keep low level, non-violent  offenders out of prison – whether they be male or female.

Finally, the work being done by all those organisations working with women is proving undoubtedly that appropriate, focussed and challenging alternatives to custody really can reduce crime.

13.11.09

A busy two weeks.  We have had good coverage with regard to the recommendations from the Centre for Social Justice about less use of short prison sentences and since then have met with Alan Duncan to further support this approach.  The challenge, as ever, remains.  Will common sense recommendations be pushed under the carpet in the run up to the election and post election because of the fear of looking  soft on crime? More than ever, the beneficial role of community punishment must be shared  with the public to gain their confidence.  We know that improving community sentences  will require resourcing but it strikes me that this is not past the wit of  man…..

I am constantly humbled by the amazing campaigners there are in this country. I am attending a Sheila McKechnie campaigning course where I have the opportunity to gain more knowledge about campaigning as well as meeting others running campaigns. Inspirational.

Last week I went the YWCA Girls Binge Drinking Conference where I was staggered to discover the depth of our teenage drinking problem here in the UK and the depressing evidence of the impact of low prices but worse still, the level of low self esteem amongst teenage girls. The YWCA are, however, really trying to take this problem on and I do applaud them for that.

I visited the Scottish Parliament too and met with the Head of the Community Justice Delivery to talk about the work they are doing to develop community payback. MJW is keen to showcase the process they are going through to support the new legislation to reduce the use of prison for those given under 6 month sentences.

And to finish on a lighter note, I went and saw the new film that Billy Bragg has just released about the work of Jail Guitar Doors. We were guests of Paul McDowell, the new CEO of Nacro, who has been a massive fan of Billy Bragg and supporter of his work. Two of the ex- offenders who benefitted from his work were there as was Maria Eagle, MP – the film was absolutely the best advocate of music and arts in prisons so let’s hope that it goes some way to address the ridiculous negativity that has occurred this year about the benefits of this kind of work with offenders.

Off to the Centre for Social Justice’s Court and Sentencing Public Policy Briefing on Monday – so watch this space!