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2010+22crime cover:Statesman supplements 01/06/2010 12:22 Page 1

POLICY REPORT No6

Crime costs Richard Garside, Erwin James, Frances Crook interview

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CRIME POLICY REPORT No 6 7th Floor John Carpenter House John Carpenter Street Contents EC4Y 0AN Tel 020 7936 6400 Fax 020 7936 6501 [email protected] 7 June 2010 Subscription inquiries: Stephen Brasher sbrasher@ newstatesman.co.uk 0800 731 8496

Supplement Editor Bibi van der Zee Researchers Morariu Denisa, Caroline Crampton Project Co-ordinator Adam Bowie Art Director David Gibbons Photography Editor Rebecca McClelland Production What can we do to get out of the cycle of crime ...... and punishment? Leon Parks Sub-editor Vicky Hutchings Publisher What lies ahead? Spencer Neal spencer@ The new bunch at the Home Office are, The challenge is further complicated by the newstatesman.co.uk without a doubt, feeling pretty nervous recession. So far we have not seen the surge of Front cover about what lies ahead of them. Their recession-linked crime that had been Anja Wohlstrom predecessors presided over a big drop in expected. But when harsh cuts begin to bite, crime alongside a huge surge in expenditure that could all change very quickly. Public Head of Sales Matt Dowsett on police and a large growth of our prison order may be threatened by widespread 020 7915 9603 population. No one is exactly sure how, and strikes. The police will need to be kept happy, Business Development Executive even if, the two are linked. But the challenge but it looks as if our new Home Secretary, Jonathan Gerlis that faces this administration is working out , may already be facing 020 7936 6872 how to spend less on our police and how to backbench revolt after making an unpopular Account Manager Peter Coombs empty out our swollen prisons, without announcement about elected police 020 7936 6873 seeing a surge in crime for which they will be commissioners. In short, it will be business as l Reprints and held directly responsible. usual. Who’d be the Home Secretary? Syndication Rights permissions@ This supplement, and other policy reports, can be downloaded from the newstatesman.co.uk NS website at newstatesman.com/supplements

Articles 4 The cost of crime Richard Garside wonders how the coalition will cope with our First published as a supplement enormous expenditure on crime to issue of 7 June 2010. 6 No going back Sophie Elmhirst interviews Frances Crook about how reoffending © New Statesman Ltd. All rights rates can be cut: through rehabilitation reserved. Registered as a newspaper in the UK and USA. 8 Life inside can have meaning too Erwin James explains how prison in the old days offered him training and education to cope with life on the outside The New Statesman 10 What happens next? Ben Ferguson on what the coalition government has in is printed on 100 store for Britain per cent recycled 14 Further information eco-friendly paper

Kids Count is a grassroots organisation that aims to find practical solutions to a broad range of issues that affect children and young people in urban and rural communities. It is determined to put young people at the heart of policy making and the family. Kids Count has recently launched its Centre of Excellence that offers a diverse range of education, training and workshops. Kids Count needs your support to continue its life changing work. For more information or to become a supporter, or to request a copy of the grassroots document on knife crime, “Bringing the Voice of the Street to The House”, please contact Linda Lawrence on 07863200751 or [email protected] GETTY IMAGES (ABOVE)

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CRIME Somehow the government must start cutting our bloated crime budgets, but where to start? The cost of crime By Richard Garside Graphic by Simone Maxwell

At his creepy press conference with Nick Communities and Local Government; expenditure rose, in real terms, by nearly Clegg the day after he finally jostled his the Scottish Office and the Northern Ire- 50 per cent. By 2009, overall police ex- way into No 10, spoke of land Office. Other departments spending penditure was £14.5bn. Police numbers the “difficult times” that lay ahead as the smaller amounts were Children, Schools correspondingly increased to close to Tory-Lib Dem coalition dealt with a “ter- and Families, Transport, the Law Offi- 142,000 police officers in that year. rible economic inheritance”. The public fi- cers’ Department, the Welsh Office, and The story is similar for the prison and nances, his newly appointed deputy the Northern Ireland Executive. probation services. Both have witnessed added, were “in a mess”. Hot on their heels This is big money by any standards and large expenditure rises under Labour, the new Chancellor, George Osborne, has a big increase on earlier times. Adjusted with a corresponding rise in staffing, pris- launched a new Office of Budget Respon- for inflation, spending on public order oners and individuals under probation sibility and has accused the Labour admin- and safety has doubled over the past 20 supervision. At a time of supposedly istration of being “totally irresponsible” falling crime rates, prison numbers are at with the nation’s finances. a record high. The probation service case- The new occupants of Police expenditure has load has grown even faster. This bloated were never going to be dispassionate risen in real terms by criminal justice bureaucracy is a key part commentators on ’s gov- of the legacy the Tory-Lib Dem coalition ernment. But whatever the truth of their nearly 50 per cent has inherited from Labour. comments on Labour’s economic stew- That is not to say that criminal justice ardship, a decade of cuts and austerity is years. ’s government staff are kicking their heels in happy indo- what everyone is now expecting. So as was “only” spending an inflation-ad- lence, the lucky beneficiaries of govern- the Treasury scouts about for budgets to justed £15.6bn on public order and safety ment largesse. The demands on front-line cut, what are the prospects for that mish- in 1987-88, a figure that rose to £21.1bn in staff time, if anything, are greater now mash of services – the police, the proba- 1996-97, the eve of Labour’s long period than they were back in the late 1990s. The tion and prison service and the courts – in office. massive prison building programme un- that collectively make up the criminal It is not difficult to see where a lot of der Labour has accounted for a good deal justice system? this money has gone. Take the police, for of additional expenditure. Money has also Criminal justice expenditure is spread instance. In 1998, there were just shy of been squandered on wasteful reorganisa- across various departments of state under 125,000 police officers in England and tion after reorganisation, ill-thought-out the rather Orwellian-sounding “public Wales. Police numbers dropped during and expensive IT projects and other “in- order and safety” category. In 2007-2008, Labour’s first term, as expenditure was novations”. Managerial grades have according to Treasury figures, the UK squeezed. But, from 2001, the financial grown in some areas, often with little spent £31.4bn on public order and safety. spigot was opened and the money gushed obvious rationale. And now David Cam- The biggest-spending departments were out. As a recent report from the Centre for eron’s coalition needs to find big savings the Home Office and the Ministry of Jus- Crime and Justice Studies points out, in on public spending. tice, followed by the Department for the ten years between 1999-2009 police On the face of it, criminal justice should

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be one of the easier targets for public particular criminal justice processes and Max Weber argued, the state claims a mo- spending cuts. Politically, the public will metrics. Indeed, it is conceivable that the nopoly on the legitimate use of violence in feel the cuts in schools or hospitals budg- official crime rate would have fallen dur- the enforcement of order, the criminal jus- ets, social security or public transport ing Labour’s period in office regardless of tice process is the embodiment of that much more than they will cuts to criminal their various criminal justice reforms. claim. Particularly at a time of economic justice budgets. Yet you only have to state the case for distress, the maintenance of social order Today’s sizeable criminal justice sys- big cuts in police numbers or a halving of becomes a dominant concern for govern- tem is also something of a historical the prison population to realise how re- ment. The nature/size of penal regimes is anomaly. With more than 85,000 in- mote such a prospect currently is. For one also closely related to the political eco- mates, the prison population in England thing, individuals’ livelihoods are at nomic arrangements of any given society. and Wales is close to double what it was stake. The Westminster policy-wonks The UK has developed a large criminal jus- 20 years earlier. The previous Conserva- who blithely call for “efficiency savings” tice system, in other words, because it is so tive governments managed to get by with here and spending cuts there tend to for- bad at addressing social distress and dys- locking up far fewer people than New get that they are calling for people to be function in other, more inclusive, ways. Labour felt it necessary to do. There are put out of work. And while this is inher- In short, the current economic crisis around 20,000 more police officers now ent in any discussion over cuts, one does offer a great opportunity for radical than when the Conservatives left office in should reflect carefully before advocating reductions in public order and safety ex- 1997. But to what effect? Labour claimed big cuts too enthusiastically. penditure. But it is likely to be one that the in office that record police numbers and But more importantly, public order and new government will miss. l prison numbers were behind the falling safety expenditure is not, fundamentally, Richard Garside is director of the Centre crime rates. But, in truth, there is no about tackling “crime”, at least not in the for Crime and Justice Studies at King’s clear link between levels of crime and abstract sense of that proposition. If, as College London

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CRIME A greater focus on rehabilitation would be cheaper and more effective in keeping the reoffending rate low, says Frances Crook No going back By Sophie Elmhirst

Frances Crook, director of the Howard quarters, while frontline services were League for Penal Reform, does not mince starved of investment. However, there her words when asked about Labour’s are inevitable concerns as cuts loom, par- record in office: it was, in terms of crimi- ticular the effect they will have on em- nal justice and penal policy, “desperately ployment levels. “Cutting off opportuni- awful”. Crook’s antagonism is directed ties for young people could cause social squarely at the leadership of the party – unrest. It did before; it did in the Eighties, particularly the various home and justice when young people couldn’t get jobs and secretaries who served in the govern- there was no support for them… That ment. While there was positive work on would be a broken society.” crime prevention – from Sure Start to On other key policies, such as the To- working with problem families – she be- ries’ plan for elected police commission- lieves ministers were “dazzled by criti- ers, Crook is cautiously positive. “I’m all cism from some of the tabloids”. Thirst in favour of the principle of public en- for popularity led them to crack down gagement and involvement at a local level disproportionately hard on crime: “As . . . but I’m not sure that the simple answer soonas anybody had done anything wrong, is elections.” She questions whether they there was an incomprehensible vicious - genuinely improve local accountability. ness that didn’t fit with all the back story of Frances Crook: wants paid work in prisons Crook also warns the new government: social policy. There was a mismatch, due “There are two groups of people you partly to very simplistic .” its policy documents, and Crook is hope- don’t take on: the police and the doctors. Crook argues that prison is an expen- ful they will take these ideas forward. In And they’re taking on both.” sive and ineffective way to deal with cri- the past, she says, Conservative govern- A final priority for Crook is to change minality. Between 1995-2009, the prison ments have occasionally been “brave” in the way children are dealt with in the population grew by 32,500 – with each reducing the use of prison, because they criminal justice system. She applauds the new prison place costing the taxpayer don’t have to prove how tough they are. coalition’s decision to end the detention £100,000 to build, and £41,000 to main- But she has little time for David Cam - of children for immigration purposes. But tain every year. The current system’s re- eron’s “broken Britain ” rhetoric. The UK she is furious about the recent trial of two offending rate is 48 per cent. Instead, she crime rate, in fact, has fallen - something boys, aged ten and 11, charged with att - maintains that a greater focus on rehabili- she believes is not coincidental but a re- empted rape of a younger girl. “What hap- tation would not only be cheaper, but sult of Labour’s social policies and invest- pened to that little girl was appalling . . . I more effective at reducing that rate. One ment in education. She is unable to offer think she was raped by the criminal jus- plank would be the introduction of paid concrete evidence for this, however – tice system.” Her lengthy cross-examina- work into prisons: “I don’t want them to simply saying that a combination of “so- tion, she says, was entirely the wrong way potter around in prison when they’re 22 cial pressure” as well as developments on to deal with a child. Equally, child perpe- as if they’re old age pensioners. I’d rather housing and education all helped. trators should never be treated as adults. they did something useful … they should Despite wanting substantive reform of pay tax. That would be a rehabilitation Promoting reform the system, Crook is pleased that Ken revolution.” As well as work, Crook would An advantage that Crook has identified Clarke, the new Justice Secretary, has so like to see community programmes and for promoting her reform agenda is the far been relatively quiet in office. He isn’t, sentences that would include community sombre economic climate. The govern- as new ministers are wont to do, over- work, curfews, participation in local pro- ment is hunting for savings across the turning all that went before for the sake of grammes to gain skills and possible exclu- public sector, and she is still incandescent marking his territory. “A period of peace”, sion from specific activities or areas – and at the waste she saw during Labour’s Crook believes, would be excellent. It benefit the local community. tenure – the endless reorganisations of the “will allow for a sensible public debate The new coalition government has National Offender Management Service, and sensible reform” – two things she

picked up on the rehabilitation theme in and the millions spent on the new head- craves, after a turbulent decade. l STEVE BACK/REX FEATURES

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CRIME Why shouldn’t we treat prisons as community resources? Life on the inside can have meaning By Erwin James

It was 1992 and Ken Clarke was obviously The jail was actually a dump, a decrepit in a good mood. He was visiting HMP Victorian building holding 220 prisoners Nottingham, a category B prison where I serving sentences ranging from four years was serving a life sentence for murder; the to life. Despite the efforts of the cleaning then home secretary came into the class- party, it was seriously grimy and, like most room where I and seven other prisoners prisons at the time, there was a burgeon- were planning a charity fund raising ing hard drug problem. But it managed to marathon run around the prison exercise work, on the whole, because of good staff/ yard, and was keen to know about our prisoner relations. There were City & progress. Guilds vocational training courses in a va- I explained that our sponsors included riety of building trades with bona fide skill fellow prisoners, prison staff, teachers, certificates at the end. The prison officers family members and of partici- were local men who had been there years “Enhanced” prisoner (better priviliges) doing pants, and several local businesses. He and always had time to talk. Life in the jail press-ups in his cell on H Wing, YOI Aylesbury was impressed. So much so that when was far from easy, but there was a definite one of our number stepped forward and sense of purpose and meaning to what we with no real skills or abilities, chronic so- asked him for a donation he never even were all supposed to be doing there. cial inhibitions and a heavy burden of blinked. “Certainly,” he boomed, and im- Under Clarke’s tenure at the Home Of- shame and guilt. The chances that any- mediately produced his wallet, extracted fice, from 1992-1993, the average prison thing good would ever come from the ex- a crisp, new five pound note and handed it population for England and Wales was perience either for me or for wider society over to our now shaking associate. He around 44,000. Before him, Douglas were slim. liked the fact, he said, that the prison was Hurd had also kept numbers reasonably But after being guided into education serving the community – and that we low, declaring that prison was a good place by a psychologist I began to see possibili- were trying to “put something back”. He “to make bad people worse”. Hurd and ties. As the years passed, I came to under- made more positive, encouraging com- Clarke both seemed to understand how stand that prison had the potential to be a ments, praised the staff and teachers who corrosive and debilitating prison life could truly valuable community resource, but were helping us, before finally wishing us be. In the midst of the general chaos, how- that social attitudes towards it, fired luck and departing, leaving us all feeling ever, there did appear to be opportunities. mainly by distorted media reporting,

upbeat and valued. I had gone in a deeply troubled character worked against that ever being a reality. PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREW AITCHISON

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the VTC workshops reduced to a shadow of what they had once been. The prison went from being a place where people worked together to make the best of a dif- ficult environment to being little more than a people warehouse, in which disil- lusionment hung in the air like just an- other bad smell. Following a landslide majority, New Labour had a chance to turn back the tide. But new home secretary, Jack Straw, clung on to his “tough” mantle. Prison life deteriorated. Incidents of suicide among prisoners rose to more than two a week. Overcrowding led to the curtailing of already restricted activities, with prisoners having to spend more and more time locked in their cells. Rates of reoffending soared, to around 70 per cent within two years of release across the board, and have remained high ever since, at a financial cost of about 11bn a year. Indeed, the prison system as a whole has been officially overcrowded every year since 1994. Our prisons have been officially overcrowded every year since 1994

Currently it stands at a new record of over 85,000 and rising. The quality of prison life is now lower than at any time in the past 20 years and the system is fail- ing so badly that it is effectively causing as much harm to society as the criminal ac- tivity of those from whom it is meant to be protecting the public. I benefited from my 20 years in prison, developing skills and abilities that have enabled me to be- come a contributing member of society. What I achieved, with the help and en- For prisons to work in the best interests of “tough on crime and tough on the caused couragement of some of the finer people the community, it needed strong political of crime”, running it past the Sun news- who work in our prisons, amounts to a will. Ken Clarke was a strong confident paper headline writer Chris Roycroft- measure of the potential that our prison politician and he appeared to want to Davis beforehand. Blair asked Roycroft- system could hold for the majority of make that happen. Sadly in the spring of Davis: “Do you think I’ll get away with those who end up in it, instead of the mi- 1993 he was replaced by Michael Howard this?” Roycroft-Davis says he thought it nority. Anyone who wants to succeed in who believed that “prison works. It en- was “one of the best things a politician turning their life around in prison today sures that we are protected from murder- had ever said”. Good for selling newspa- has an even bigger mountain to climb. But ers, muggers and rapists.” Howard de- pers, perhaps, but not good for the effect Ken Clarke is back in charge of justice and lighted many in his party with his taunt to it would have on our prisons. prisons. He once gave a murderer a five wrongdoers everywhere: “If you don’t The “tough” rhetoric continued in the pound note. Proof, if you like, that even in want the time, don’t do the crime.” Not to two main parties for the next few years, a prison crisis, hope springs eternal. l be outdone, the budding New Labour and I experienced, firsthand, the impact Erwin James served 20 years of a life leader had come up with his of this unprecedented hike in prisoner sentence for murder and was released in own slogan. numbers. Two new wings were built in 2004. He is now a trustee of the Prison He told the in the grounds at the prison over the sports Reform Trust and works full time as a 1993 that New Labour was going to be field, while the education department and freelance writer

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orders that allow the police to act on anti- social behaviour without criminalising young people. The Conservatives are targeting drink- and drug-fuelled violence by giving the police and local authorities the ability to take away licenses from premises where problems occur. They’ve also increased the penalty for serving underage cus- tomers alcohol to £20,000. Only one in five charges of knife crime currently results in a prison sentence and the Tories are guaranteeing that anyone convicted of knife crime will go to prison. They want to crack down on people car- rying knives by introducing mobile knife scanners on streets and public transport. In other areas, the Conservatives will teach schoolchildren about sexual con- sent to try and stop sexual violence, and create a police national cyber crime unit to deal with identity theft and internet fraud. However, some plans have already come under criticism. The outgoing home secretary, , told the New Statesman that the coalition govern- ment’s plan to reform the DNA database will make it much harder for courts to convict sexual offenders. Opposition from Labour will be strong in this area. Knife crime: police investigate the fatal stabbing of four-year-old Ryan Hawkins, in 2007 Above all, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, is likely to find herself battling against cuts imposed because of the The two parties have some serious budget deficit. disagreements over crime to sort out Police Spending on the police in England and Wales grew by nearly 50 per cent between 1999-2009. Out of last year’s £35bn Cell mates budget for public order and safety, £14.5bn went to the police. So where did all this money go? Alan By Ben Ferguson Johnson denies the claim that the police are the last non-reformed public service. He points out, for example, that neigh- bourhood policing – introduced in 1997 – was an area where Labour made a consid- erable difference. Brought in to tackle antisocial behav- Crime But there’s still room for improvement. iour and put communities back in touch The crime scene in England and Wales is A larger year-on-year percentage of vio- with their local forces, neighbourhood not as grim as the headlines suggest: lent crime involved the use of knives, and policing, Johnson believes, also con- murder rates are at their lowest levels for drug-related offences are up 6 per cent, tributed to a 65 per cent reduction in do- 20 years, with 651 deaths recorded in the although the reclassification of cannabis mestic violence under Labour. It created 12 months to November 2009. The num- makes this statistic look worse than it is. jobs for 14,000 new police officers along- ber of violent crimes – including robbery, In order to fix “broken Britain”, the side 16,000 police community support mugging, assault, domestic violence, and Tories are talking tough on two topics: officers. Britain now has a bigger police gun and knife crime – is down by 49 per antisocial behaviour and knife crime. force than ever before, with 141,510 cent since 1995, and the Home Office According to David Cameron, Asbos trained personnel. says burglary is down by 35 per cent are “blunt instruments”. Instead, the With a look to the future, Alan Johnson

since 2002. government will bring in grounding says the coalition government “must pro- GETTY IMAGES

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tect frontline policing” in the face of This scheme won’t apply to the police operates across geographical boundaries. budget cuts. And it’s here where the coali- in Scotland and Northern Ireland, whose While it is clear that changes are over- tion parties might disagree. The Deputy money and legislation is passed from their due in England and Wales – the last time Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat own governments. Scotland, in fact, al- the police service was restructured was leader, , promised to put 3,000 ready has fully elected local police author- back in 1964 – we will have to wait and see extra police on the streets nationwide, ities, while the Police Service of Northern what form this will take . funded with money saved by scrapping Ireland underwent ten years of reform be- ID cards. Although plans to bring in ID fore 2001. In 2007, the 29 districts that Prisons cards have been scrapped, so too have covered policing in Northern Ireland Britain’s prisons are bursting at the been those for extra officers. were amalgamated to become eight, with seams. Total capacity reached 97 per cent The Tories’ big plan to get rid of local one chief constable in charge of the lot. at the start of May and a priority for the police authorities in an effort to make the Some people anticipate similar reform new Justice Secretary, , police more accountable was written into will be to bring this figure down. the Police Reform and Social Responsi- When New Labour pledged to be bility Bill last week. Police constables will Police are unhappy “tough on crime, tough on the causes of now answer to an elected commissioner – about plans for elected crime”, it was already inheriting in 1997 like a sheriff – whom the public will vote an overstretched prison estate from John in at each local election. The commis- commissioners Major. As prison populations rose to sioner’s job will be to apply to local coun- 85,000 in April this year – an increase of cils for police funding and set police pri- in England and Wales, with the Tories 15 per cent between 2002-2010 – over- orities for their community. perhaps merging some of the 43 police crowding could no longer be ignored. But there’s growing anger from the po- forces as a way of getting the police back The Conservatives have promised in lice that the move will undermine their on their side. This idea was last put for- their manifesto to end overcrowding by independence. The Association of Chief ward by the then home secretary Charles 2016. While they’re looking at two op- of Police Officers president, Sir Hugh Clarke in 2005, but his efforts lost mo- tions for doing this, the Liberal Democ- Orde, reckons that police independence mentum without the support of other rats offer up a third option that could put a may be jeopardised, and also fears the politicians or the police. This time round, strain on the parties’ marriage. possibility that “lunatics” will gain con- Sir Hugh thinks it’s a good idea, as a way The first option is to increase capacity. trol over local forces, as typical voter of saving money on IT and administration The Tories were planning to sell off the

turnout in local elections is very low. and helping fight organised crime which old prison estate and build more, t

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t smaller prisons in their place. But, with property prices slashed during the recession the proposal is in tatters. The system is at breaking point David Cameron has hinted in the past By Matthew Evans that prison ships are potentially a way around this issue. These would be an al- We urgently need to put some distance and those figures continue to fall. ternative to the giant Titan prisons that between criminal justice policy and The Parole Board is now so risk- Labour were building. Scrapped by the party political competition; the averse that it seriously raises questions coalition, Titans were initially an alterna- problems of an adversarial political about its perceived independence from tive to the early release programme – con- system like Britain’s is that you end the state and its institutions. The sidered to have undermined the sen- with an unstable dynamic in criminal system is at breaking point, with tences of 80,000 criminals. justice policymaking. prisoners suffering endless delays in Second, the Conservatives pledged in For example,after a tabloid frenzy getting a hearing, spending far longer in their manifesto that they would deport all around two high-profile cases (Damien prisons that have no facilities or courses non-EU prisoners immediately, which Hanson and Elliot White) where for them to complete in order to show a would also create extra space. It’s unsure prisoners released on parole had gone reduction in risk and far longer in open whether this will go ahead, but govern- on to commit further serious offences, conditions before they are considered ment plans to extend Harmon dsworth the then home secretary, John Reid, suitable for release. Immigration Removal Centre to create gave a speech in which he chastised the Taking the politics and political Europe’s biggest asylum removal centre audience for their perceived liberal partisan competition out of law and suggest it might. Inspectors last week release rates. Result? A subsequent order would be a major step to resolving condemned the plans as “oppressive”. significant drop in release rates. In and escaping from the cell of penal And third, the Liberal Democrat op- 2005-06, the Parole Board was releasing populism. Ideally, the coalition now tion: send fewer people to jail. While 50 per cent of determinate-sentence needs set up a Royal Commission to Cameron says this can be done by cutting prisoners and around 23 per cent of identify a future direction for the crime, the Liberal Democrats – in the days indeterminate-sentence prisoners criminal justice system. l before coalition – wanted to replace short- (lifers). By 2006-07, that release rate Matthew Evans is the managing solicitor term custodial sentences with commu- had fallen to 36 per cent and 15 per cent, at the Prisoners’ Advice Service nity rehabilitation schemes. If the Liberal Democrats get their way on this, cutting short-term sentences will time and resources of prison staff are the avenues available to the courts to send have the double effect of relieving pres- taken up by security and control.” people to prison in the first place.” sure on the prison system as well as re- If the Tories keep their manifesto The Liberal Democrats prefer proba- ducing the rate of reoffending. pledges, they’ll turn public-sector pris- tion to prison. As well as replacing short- ons into independent, fee-earning prison term sentences with community sen- Rehabilitation and rehabilitation trusts, responsible for tences, they want to create more A recent report by Audit Of- offenders after they are released as well as neighbourhood justice panels – a restora- fice (NAO) found that 60 per cent of pris- while they are in prison, run by governors tive justice scheme that makes criminals oners serving short sentences are recon- whose job it will be to deliver the rehabili- confront their behaviour by engaging victed within a year of release. Given that tation results. with their victims. A coalition clash in 2008-09, the cost of looking after short- To do this, the Tories want private and might occur here, as the Conservative sentence prisoners, not including educa- Party has been heavily critical of commu- tion and healthcare, was £286m, failure to nity sentencing in the past. rehabilitate is proving very expensive. Ac- Overcrowding means Budget constraints will invariably de- cording to the Tories, nothing short of a that prisoners just cide the outcome of these pledges. How- “rehabilitation revolution” is needed. ever, the NAO warns that if the cash There is no single body that deals with languish on their bunks doesn’t go to the right place, many short- rehabilitation. The National Offender sentence prisoners, especially those who Management Service oversees the run- voluntary specialist organisations to pro- are unmotivated, will spend most of their ning of all 140 prisons in England and vide education, mentoring and drug reha- time in their cells. Wales. It runs the probation service and bilitation to help young offenders,, to be Andrew Neilson seconds this. “Before manages the prison population, but dele- funded by the savings made in the crimi- there is any talk of rehabilitation for pris- gates many of its duties to prison nal justice system thanks to lower levels oners, politicians must first address the governors. Each prison is then expected of crime. issue of chronic overcrowding. Some to provide the right kind of rehabilitat ion Andrew Neilson said: “Introducing a prisons are operating with over 190 per for their prisoners. wave of rehabilitation services for prison- cent overcrowding. All this means is that Andrew Neilson, the assistant direc- ers is certainly commendable, but all the prisoners languish on their bunks for tor of the Howard League for Penal evidence tells us that rehabilitation works years with no access to work or purpose- Reform, has said: “Prisons cannot pro- far better if offered in the community. The ful activity.” vide any meaningful rehabilitation for new government needs to focus on If this continues, so will the cycle of the large majority of prisoners, as the strengthening probation and reducing crime. l

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CRIME Further information Your guide to some of the leading organisations and pressure groups in the sector

Association of Chief Police anonymously to pass on Howard League for Penal in Scotland and Northern Officers information about crimes. Reform Ireland oversee their own The Association of Chief crimestoppers-uk.org Founded in 1866 and funded justice systems. Police Officers (Acpo) has by voluntary donations, the justice.gov.uk been, since its foundation in Criminal Justice System Howard League for Penal 1948, the main organisation The vast network that makes Reform is the oldest such Napo that develops police policy in up the legal system in organisation in the world. The Trade Union and England, Wales and Northern England and Wales comes howardleague.org Professional Association for Ireland. Scotland’s forces are under this umbrella title; the Family Court and Probation coordinated separately, by the different agencies working Justice Staff is a campaigning group Association of Chief Police within the system include the Justice is a UK law reform and that represents more than Officers in Scotland. police, the Crown human rights organisation. 9,000 probation and family acpo.police.uk Prosecution Service, the The stated objectives of court staff throughout courts, the National Offender Justice are to promote human England, Wales and Centre for Crime and Justice Management Service and the rights, improve the legal Northern Ireland. Studies Youth Justice Board. There are system and access to justice, napo.org.uk The Centre for Crime and separate systems in place in and to raise standards of Justice Studies (CCJS) is an Scotland and in Northern EU justice. Police Federation independent charity that Ireland. justice.org.uk There are three different such informs and educates about cjsonline.gov.uk federations in the UK: the all aspects of crime and the scotcourts.gov.uk Police Federation for England criminal justice system. cjsni.gov.uk Also known as the National and Wales, the one for crimeandjustice.org.uk Council for Civil Liberties, Northern Ireland and the Home Office Liberty is an organisation that Scottish Police Federation. Centre for Social Justice The Home Office is the protects civil liberties and All three are part of the A centre-right British government department promotes human rights. European Confederation of political think tank set up by for immigration control, liberty-human-rights.org.uk Police (Europol). , the security and order. It is also polfed.org Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) in charge of UK policy on Ministry of Justice policefed-ni.org.uk focuses on finding new ways crime, drugs and counter Oversees the criminal justice spf.org.uk to fight poverty. . Among the sub- system, with responsibility centreforsocialjustice.org.uk organisations that are part for the courts, the probation Victim Support of the Home Office, there are system and our prisons. It also Victim Support is an Crimestoppers the police, the UK Border oversees burials, elections, independent charity for Crimestoppers is an Agency and MI5. The paternity testing and many victims and witnesses of independent crime-fighting Secretary of State is other subjects. The Secretary crime across England and charitable organisation in the Theresa May. of State for England Wales is Wales. UK which people can ring homeoffice.gov.uk Ken Clarke. The governments victimsupport.org.uk

14 | NEW STATESMAN | 7 JUNE 2010 Policy report house ad:Statesman supplements 25/05/2010 11:38 Page 1

Policy Reports 2010 Look out for forthcoming New Statesman policy reports addressing the key issues of 2010 from housing to public health, from climate change to national security, from transport to education.

For further information, please contact David Watters Tel: +44 (0) 20 7 936 6908 Email: [email protected]