Angus Macqueen’s “Our Drugs War” exposes many of the complex issues around the drugs trade.  Well worth watching again if you can.

I sat in on his live chat room debate for an hour afterwards and managed to get one comment over which was no mean feat as he was inundated!

One very serious point made by someone in Afghanistan was that they, as suppliers, were simply responding to demand…… comes back to the issue of what we are doing in this country to reduce people’s dependency on drugs, particularly those who get caught up in the criminal justice system.  What are we  really doing to invest in  critical community solutions which are so badly needed  to  reduce the likelihood of  disaffected youngsters getting involved with crime?

Met police chief says he is ‘rather fond of villains going to prison’
Commissioner Paul Stephenson opposes Kenneth Clarke’s plans to lock up fewer criminals

By Haroon Siddique and agencies

‘Stephenson’s predecessor as Met commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, is taking part in an inquiry examining short-term prison sentences, set up by Make Justice Work, which hopes to find workable alternatives to locking people up.’

For the full article please click here.

Make Justice Work has just launched its National Commission of Enquiry in Manchester.  Our panel – Lord Ian Blair, Paul McDowell (CEO of Nacro), Owen Sharp (acting CEO of Victim Support), John Thornhill (Chair of the Magistrates Association) and Peter Oborne (the new political columnist for the Telegraph) – visited the Intensive Alternative to Custody programme in Manchester.  This was followed by anevidence giving session with the panel and a wider debate with the audience.  It was a very successful and lively event and we were delighted at the discussions that came out of the Enquiry.  We are now planning our next event which will be late October and we intend to raise the stakes by broadening out our audience base and media coverage. Our role is to inspire confidence in the public and particularly decision makers, that intensive community sentencing can be tough, challenging and most importantly, reduce crime.  The programme in Manchester did just that.  The evidence is there – we just need to get it out into the public domain for all to see.

Stop sticking the vulnerable in holding pens
Violent criminals are freed after half their sentences and the wrong people stay in jail

By Alice Thomson

“The campaign Make Justice Work commissioned a cost-benefit analysis last year of short-term sentencing versus community alternatives. It estimated that the country would have saved almost £1 billion had drug-using offenders been given residential treatment rather than a custodial sentence.”

To read the whole article please go here.

Britain is gripped by the unprecedented  coverage in the media around short prison sentences and the need for government to look very seriously at the cost and ineffectiveness such sentences have on the majority of offenders has never been more important.    Now is the time for ministers to take courage and rethink how we use punishment in this country – to look at  real and genuine punishments in the community  which can reduce crime and the number of victims suffering from lower level criminal activity.  Locking someone up for three months may provide temporary respite – but it goes no way to reducing the continuing offending  behaviour once an offender is back on the streets – back into the same community from whence they came, having, more often than not, learnt new tricks of the trade and still having drug, alcohol and mental health issues

Alternatives to custody help to stop reoffending

SIR – Mary Riddell (Comment, June 29) rightly criticises Britain’s prison system.

Imprisonment for Public Protection prisoners account for no more than one in 15 of the prison population. Compare this to short-term prisoners who account for 66 per cent of those in jail. The most effective way to reform our justice system is to heed the calls from the National Audit Office, the Prison Governors Association and the Probation Officers Association, and abolish sentences of less than 12 months.

Alternatives to custody, which include a combination of robust community punishments, drug rehabilitation, mental health support and dedicated prolific and priority offender schemes are proven to be more effective at reducing criminal behaviour, increasing public safety and giving the taxpayer better value for money.

Such a change would also free vital space in prisons for the most dangerous criminals, from whom the public needs protection. It is an eminently sensible policy suggestion – the Government must be brave and sell it to the public.

Roma Hooper
Director, Make Justice Work
London W1

To the see letter please go here.

Clarke’s jail shake-up stirs budget doubts

By James Boxell, Home Affairs Correspondent

“Prison reformers, however, insist big savings can be made by switching to community punishment for minor criminals, particularly drug addicts. Make Justice Work, a campaign group, says that across a lifetime it is £60,000 cheaper to give a drug offender community-based treatment than to send him to prison.”

To read the whole article go here.

This week marks a major shift in the real reducing re-offending arena. Finally, the beginning of a more open debate around how to reduce crime without building more prison places. But let’s be clear – this is only the beginning. It is therefore crucial that every one of us, who believes  that rehabilitation for lower level offenders can  be successfully achieved by appropriate investment in community sentencing, resulting in safer communities, must continue to make our voices heard and that politicians and policy makers are held to account should there be any “slippage” in their intentions. Common sense and economic prudence must prevail – and justice ministers will need to be courageous and not allow some parts of the media to derail the potential for the most major criminal justice reform we have seen for decades.

Clear sentences

Magistrates need community sentences to enhance public confidence and provide more opportunity to divert people away from custodySir, Lord Justice Leveson (Law, June 3) must be commended on his new approach to creating clear and consistent sentencing guidelines for judges. Inconsistent sentencing of criminals can have serious economic and social repercussions. Locking up low-level offenders contributes to the overcrowding of our prisons, draws on our already scarce resources and results in them being more likely to reoffend.

Magistrates need accessible and consistent community sentences that will enhance public confidence and provide more opportunity to divert people away from custody where possible. The public, presented with the facts, are often less punitive than the judges.

Roma Hooper
Director, Make Justice Work

Read the letter here.