I Would Rethink Crime & Punishment...

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I Would Rethink Crime & Punishment by...

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A collection of contributions from well-known figures from inside and outside the criminal justice system. What would ex-footballer Tony Adams, peer Lord Archer, business guru Anita Roddick and broadcaster Nick Ross do to improve the way we respond to crime? This is published by Rethinking Crime & Punishment, a strategic initiative of Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

Transcript of I Would Rethink Crime & Punishment...

IWouldRethink Crime & Punishmentby...

To coincide with the publication of RethinkingCrime & Punishment: The Report we asked a cross-section of public figures and key opinionformers to complete the statement: ‘I would rethink crime and punishment by...’

Their answers are varied, thought-provoking and surprising – especially as our contributorsinclude people who don’t normally takepart in the debate on how to deal with crime.Reassuringly there is much in commonbetween their thoughts, and the findings andrecommendations from RCP’s substantial work.

IWouldRethink Crime & Punishmentby...

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Tony A

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I would rethink crime and punishment by doing more to help people with drinkor drug problems. I spent time in prisonthrough a drink-related incident. I don’treally remember much about the wholeincident but know that I got in my car, I was totally smashed out of my head and before I knew it I had crashed. I was completely out of control.

My sentence, just before Christmas, was to be sent toprison – it was certainly a good advert for the drinkdrive campaign that year – a high profile person inprison, but the long and short of it was that I wascompletely out of my head and out of control – a simple case of a man having problems with alcohol.

I spent three months in prison and astonishinglyreceived no education in the areas of alcohol and drugabuse. Inside prison I was with people with similarproblems to mine, they had been smashed out of theirheads on mixtures of alcohol, cocaine, crack orwhatever – but ultimately they had committed crimesthat in the clear light of day would not have done.

My experiences since being sober have led me intoprison again – this time on a sobriety mission. I visitprisons, talk about my life – from how it used to be,what happened and where I am today – hoping thatpeople can identify with some of my experiences andthat it will give them the courage and belief to get backon the correct path in life.

Statistics have shown that if you give people educationon the drugs they have been using and also introducethem to a high level of physical and calming exercisethere is a dramatic fall in the amount that reoffend.

Tony AdamsFormer England footballer, Founder of the Sporting Chance Clinic

I would rethink crime and punishment byrethinking social care and regeneration.This is not a moral argument but aneconomic one. By tackling poverty andsocial exclusion effectively we can preventa great deal of crime – reducing its impacton individuals, communities and thetaxpayer. One third of prisoners have asevere alcohol dependency and two thirdshave mental health problems. One third ofprisoners say they were in local authoritycare as a child. For many, prison merelyserves as an example of how little valuecurrent welfare services add to their lives.

None of this is meant to excuse the crimes they have committed but it shouldspur us to action. Providing the rightinterventions, earlier in life, will be farmore cost-effective than prison – and willdo far more for the victims of crime.

Gaps in current social care services costthe taxpayer £7.83 billion per year – a largeportion of this cost coming throughoffending. At the same time in the USA, a study found that every dollar spent ontackling poverty saved seven dollars inother costs, such as criminal justice.

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In the long term, providing effective social care that meets people’s whole needs, including educationand employment will be more effective than anycriminal justice programme.

Lord Adebowale Chief Executive, Turning Point

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I would rethink crime and punishmentby reallocating resources within theprison service budget to give a higherpriority to rehabilitation, retraining forfuture employment, and an improvementin literary standards.

During my own prison journey I wasstruck by the astoundingly high levels of illiteracy among prisoners. Tests showthat about a third of all prisoners readand write at skill levels below those of 11 year-old schoolchildren. I wouldpursue the idea of prisoners being able to earn extra remission as a result ofachieving NVQ qualifications, computerskills and higher literacy standards.

Jonathan AitkenFormer Cabinet Minister

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I would rethink crime and punishment by tacklingthe causes as much as the symptoms. This is seen at its most obvious by our much needed, effective attack on anti-social behaviour. Anyone who wants to seriously inhibit anti-social behaviour will regress the problem back to secondary and then primaryschool. Even then we must take it further into theunder-fives.

In essence we need to develop and promote socialbehaviour as much as stopping anti-social behaviour.This means for example, putting social behaviour as a core curriculum subject with as much status asgiven to literacy and numeracy.

In addition we need to develop parenting skillsamongst youngsters so that they have the emotionalliteracy to enable their children to get the best out of their parents and their schooling. This would haveto lie alongside an even more profound expansion ofSureStart and the tracking, monitoring and assistingof all under-fives in appropriate families. One poundspent in early intervention will save millions ofpounds on policing, the courts, drug rehabilitation,social work, prison and MPs’ and Councillors’ time,let alone the loss and distress suffered by ordinarycitizens when we fail as a society to interveneeffectively and early enough.

Graham Allen MPMember of Parliament for Nottingham North

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Imagine that you are ill. You see your GP who tells you that you have, say a stomach disorder andprescribes tablet X. A month later, your conditionhas worsened and you return to the surgery. Thedoctor tells you to give the medicine time, increasesthe dose and sends you on your way. A furthermonth goes by and now, you are in agony. Anotherappointment. You are in the waiting room talking toanother patient, who says he has gout and that thetablets the doctor gave him do not appear to beworking. To your astonishment, you find that he too is on tablet X. You take a spot survey of those inthe waiting room; they are all on the same medicineand not a soul feels better for it. Surely a case for the General Medical Council to consider strikingthis clearly dangerous doctor from the register?

An unlikely scenario? Yes, of course. Except that it is a script that is written hundreds of thousands oftimes a year within the penal area of our criminaljustice system. Everybody who gets sent to prison,man, woman, or child receives basically the sametreatment; a treatment that has proved time andtime again, not to work. There are 75,000 people in prison and 75,000 different reasons why they arethere. Yet they are all on tablet X. Is there a doctor in the house?

Eric Allison Prisons correspondent, The Guardian

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I would rethink crime and punishment bycategorising defendants during trial –sending first offenders, with no history of violence or drugs, directly to an openprison. I would pay inmates the same forall jobs, including education – if it was asfinancially rewarding to learn and write,they would have more options on release,and may be less likely to re-offend.

The punishment for smoking marijuanashould be different to that for takingheroin to stop a number of socialmarijuana smokers turning to heroinsimply because it can be flushed out in 24 hours as opposed to 28 days, thusavoiding any adverse drug testing result.

Lord Archer

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I would rethink crime and punishmentby focussing offenders on the harm theyhave done through mediation with theirvictim or other victims. Communitywork, if necessary whilst tagged, is betterthan prison for all but the dangerous.Women self-harm in prison; men getcaught up in more crime and both passdelinquency onto the next generation.

Vera Baird QC MPMember of Parliament for Redcar

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I would rethink crime and punishment by placing the main emphasis of crimereduction policy on promoting socialinclusion. This means support for familiesunder stress, effective pre-schooleducation, reducing school exclusion,specialist education and trainingprogrammes for at risk young people, well structured youth activity andsupported accommodation provision for homeless young people and adults.

I would restrict imprisonment todangerous offenders and shift thecriminal justice system strongly towardsrehabilitation. All offenders shouldreceive high quality help with education,employment, accommodation,mentoring, mental health, addictionproblems, offending behaviour andmaintaining family ties. This wouldreduce crime far more effectively than a punitive approach.

Paul CavadinoChief Executive, Nacro

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I would rethink crime and punishment bywithin six months, releasing at least20,000 prisoners from prison on parole.The prisons are grossly overcrowded andcannot do their job properly.

We also need to robustly reinforcediscipline in schools, starting with nurseryschools. Unless this issue is tackled now,the next generation will reap a whirlwind.More people, especially young people,also need to be kept out of the courtsystem altogether including throughrestorative justice.

We also need to stop politicians frommeddling too much and too often, toeducate the media who are often unfairand provocative, to mentor selectedoffenders under judicial supervision and to send less people to prison.

His Honour Judge Christopher Compston

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I would rethink crime and punishment byabandoning the ineffective concept ofpunishment which is simply revenge incamouflage. A whole new system shouldhelp to create a safer society, to preventcrime and protect victims. People who commit offences should takeresponsibility and make amends for what they have done.

Prison should be a scarce resource usedonly for serious and violent offenders who are a danger. At present it feeds thecrime problem by encouraging sloth,malevolence and violence.

Frances Crook Director, The Howard League for Penal Reform

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I would rethink crime and punishment bydifferentiating between those criminalsincapable of rehabilitation, who should betaken out of society and kept under supervisionand constant assessment, and the opportunistcriminal, who makes up by far the greater part of the prison population. Opportunistcriminals must be given the chance, whilstinside, to study, train and receive counsellingso as to eventually return into the communitywith less chance of reoffending.

To date we have fallen between two stools –the ‘imprisoning as few as possible and onlyfor the most extreme crimes’ lobby, and the‘bang them up and throw away the key’parade. Neither is the answer. I feel that ‘zero tolerance’ would be a worthwhile step. If we can tackle the youth offendercommitting relatively minor offences, before he or she progresses to more seriouscrime, then hopefully we can reduce thecriminal population whilst at the same time safeguarding our communities.

We must not take away hope of a future,equally we must ensure that the general public are aware that the whole issue ofincarceration is taken seriously.

James Gaddas Actor, Bad Girls

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I would rethink crime and punishment byensuring the criminal justice systemprotects citizens and punishes offenders:it should also provide rehabilitation andreduce reoffending. Offenders often facecomplex problems, such as addiction andmental illness. The custodial system mustallow for more successful interventions to prevent reoffending. These can includerestorative justice, faith-based support,regular education and communityinvolvement.

Where possible, family contacts should be maintained – the system should behumane but austere. The tremendouswork done by prison officers and theprobation service must be recognised.Support to prevent reoffending shouldcontinue beyond the prison gate to reducethe likelihood of a return to crime.

Cheryl Gillan MP Member of Parliament for Chesham andAmersham, Conservative Shadow HomeOffice Minister

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eryl Gillan

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I would rethink crime and punishmentby increasing skills. Only one in fiveprisoners have literacy levels higher than an 11 year-old’s, and when in prison people lose touch with theirfamilies. This makes it difficult forprisoners to cope with life’s practicalproblems. However, when they are better equipped to do so, offending rates drop substantially.

Citizens Advice Bureaux can help. Our advice can help sort out problems,preventing family breakdown, debt and the loss of a home to return to. Our work on financial literacy can help skill people to deal with futureproblems themselves.

David Harker Chief Executive, Citizens Advice

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I would rethink crime and punishment byshifting the emphasis from enforcementand justice to early intervention andprevention. We can do more aboutincentivising changes in behaviour rather than simply relying on increasingthe use of penalties.

We must find a new way and the politicalwill to transfer resources to tackle theunderlying roots of crime. To achieve this we must redirect resources to theprovision of mainstream preventativeservices, as has happened with public health.

Those issuing punishments are largelydisconnected from the expensiveconsequences of their decisions. Let’sreconnect them so they begin to workwith local communities to decide whether it’s better to spend a pound on immediate punishment or onsustainable prevention.

Roger HowardChief Executive, Crime Concern

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I would rethink crime and punishmentwith a determined effort to stop the rise in prison sentences. Judges andmagistrates send more people to prisonfor longer, not because there is morecrime but because they feel publicopinion demands it. So our prisons are overcrowded as never before and the record numbers grow all the time. In these conditions the chances ofreforming a prisoner are slim. More than half reoffend within two years of release. Prison has not ‘worked’ for them or for the community.

These are two keys to progress – providethose who pass sentences withconvincing alternatives to imprisonment– and do everything possible to helpprisoners on release to find a job and ahome so that they do not immediatelydrift back into crime.

The Right Honourable Lord Hurd Former Home Secretary

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I would rethink crime and punishment bytaking party politics out of policy making,and making policy based on evidence ofwhat works. And what works is whatever is best at stopping people reoffending.

Making offenders see the effect on victims– always, in every case – would be a goodstart. Ensuring active education forprisoners, particularly young prisonersand detainees, would be another.

Stephen IrwinChairman, General Council of the Bar of England and Wales

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Council (made up perhaps of teachers,social workers, doctors, beat policeofficers, probation officers andacademics), would base its policydecisions on information gathered by itsdedicated teams of specialist researchers.The courts would carry out sentencingaccording to these policies and the courtappearance would be the time for theperson in the dock to be subjected topublic opprobrium and private shame.The arrival at prison for those sentencedto a period of incarceration would markthe beginning of the rebuilding process.

Prisons would be establishments thatwould encourage personal developmentand responsibility through therapeuticcounselling, academic education and the pursuance of creative activities. The prison journey, however long itmight be, would be constructive andgeared to lead to the eventual successfulreintegration of the imprisoned personback into the community.

Erwin James Columnist, The Guardian

I would rethink crime and punishment by firstof all taking the responsibility of punishment,including the prison system, away from themain political arena. The only politicalinvolvement in my model would be from an all-party home affairs committee that wouldengage with and oversee what I would ensurewas a fully independent body responsible bothfor sentencing policy and prison conditions. This body, let’s call it the Prisons and Sentencing

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I would rethink crime and punishment byundertaking a long-term programme toengage the public on the issue. Amongthose involved with the criminal justicesystem, it is common ground thatconcerted effort needs to be directed at the causes of crime and that moreeffective responses are needed.

The public is generally unengaged in thisdebate and presumes that the answer liesprimarily in more effective detection andconviction, combined with tougherpunishment. The gulf betweenpractitioners and public has led to theconstant cycle of changing policy and lack of commitment even to promisingnew initiatives. Such a programme shouldinclude teaching in schools and adultinvolvement in prison visits, courts andvictim contact.

When, and only when, there is a commonperception of the nature of the problemand the effectiveness of current practiceswill there be popular support for theinnovation that exists among practitioners.

Derek LewisFormer Director General of the Prison Service

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I would rethink crime and punishmentby making sure that every Governmentdepartment and public organisation has a commitment to reducing crime and disorder built into their workprogrammes. Truly joined up workinglike this is absolutely key.

Everyone needs to understand that whilethe police can lead the fight againstcrime, they can only do this with theactive support of the organisations and people they work to protect.

Ken LivingstoneMayor of London

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I would rethink crime and punishment by putting more of an emphasis on re-education and rehabilitation in our prisons.

I strongly disapprove of capitalpunishment and solitary confinementand I feel that we need to find new ways of ultimately showing and givingprisoners socio-economic choices thatthey may never have had before. I realisethat this could be costly but I believeeducation and re-education is the key to a safer society.

Charlotte LucasActor, Bad Girls

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I would rethink crime and justice byreducing the reach and aspirations of the criminal justice system and puttingprison back where it belongs – as a placeof absolute last resort. A tragic unintendedconsequence of improving prison, before reserving it for serious and violentoffenders only, has been to turn it into an under-resourced, capacious socialservice struggling to dispense drugtreatment, low level mental healthcareand basic education. I would call onother public services to shoulder theirshirked responsibilities and invest morein preventative work and support forvulnerable families.

Above all I would look to an authoritative,confident Government to reduce fear ofcrime and create a justice system basedon proportionality and fairness notvengeance and populism.

Juliet LyonDirector, Prison Reform Trust

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I would rethink crime and punishment byrecognising the need to co-ordinate amassive response on the hidden harm of drug and alcohol misuse, with earlyintervention and family work. Currentdata tells us 43 per cent of drug misusersare parents. Seventeen per cent of theseare parents at the age of 15-19 years.350,000 children are now at risk fromparental drug misuse – and are seventimes more likely to use drugs themselves.One million are at risk from parentalalcohol misuse.

We know enough about drugs and crimeto state that British society faces agenerational time bomb – one that willproduce millions more potentialcriminals out of the vulnerable andmarginalised if we don’t act now.

Peter MartinChief Executive, Addaction

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I would rethink crime and punishmentby ensuring that we spend much moretime, energy and initiative on examiningthe causes of crime, and doing this inpractical terms rather than merelylistening to the rhetoric of politicians.

There is little doubt that the majority of crime comes about because of socialdeprivation which is unacceptable in one of the world’s richest economies.Tackling that end of the spectrum andensuring that there are opportunities for all in terms of education andemployment will help redress thebalance, whilst marginalising thatcomparatively smaller number ofindividuals who need separating from society, and from whom societyneeds protection.

Bill Midgley President, British Chambers of Commerce

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I would rethink crime andpunishment by not simply startingfrom where we find ourselves now.We should re-imagine our responseafresh, putting the needs of thevictims of the crime, and the needsof the perpetrators of crime andtheir families, at the centre of our debate.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’ConnorRoman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster

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I would rethink crime and punishmentby making it possible for all peoplesentenced to a custodial sentence for thefirst time to have a six month communityprogramme. Only those who fail orbreach the order should be consideredfor prison.

In addition, all prison sentences shouldbe linked to a rehabilitation programmeand those who do well should have earlyrelease. No young person – less than 21 years-old – should serve a prisonsentence without being tried out on a community order first.

Dr Theodore Mutale Consultant Child and AdolescentForensic Psychiatrist, Member of the Youth Justice Board

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What’s the problem with Youth Justice? In a word – according to Elton John, thehardest word – young offenders neverhave to say Sorry. Yes, Referral Panels are astep in the right direction. But after hisfirst offence, the average teenage-on-teenage mugger sits and listens to his briefmake tortuous, often legalistic excuses on his behalf but never has to face up to it and say I Did It, I’m Sorry, It Was Wrong.Meanwhile, months pass between crimeand trial and by the time sentence isannounced, the new offender has usuallyalready re-offended and is lost to any hopeof rehabilitation.

So my proposal is simple… Henceforth themugging victim will have a choice: he canmake a statement and proceed throughthe courts OR the offender can be broughtbefore him, in a controlled setting, and theoffender has to look him in the eye and say a Sorry. Genuinely. And if he does, that’sthe end of it. No further action.

It won’t be easy – Elton was right – but nexttime, it might even make him think twice.

Jonathan MyersonNovelist, screenwriter, Labour Councillor in Lambeth and a former Youth CourtMagistrate

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I would rethink crime and punishment by shifting the focus away from imprisonment andestablishing the principle that offenders shouldwherever possible pay back their debt to societythrough supervised work in the community.

Crime rates remain unacceptably high,communities are more divided than ever, andmany people feel powerless and afraid. I want to put power back into the hands of ordinarypeople and get them involved in solving theproblems on their doorstep. This should be done by allowing communities a greater role in holding the police to account, by expandingrestorative justice schemes to deal with anti-social behaviour, and by giving the community a say in the work carried out by offenders. I haveno problem with tough prison sentences forviolent offenders, but I find it unacceptable thatwe do so little to rehabilitate those we lock up. I want to see an end to the scandal of individualsleaving prison still unable to fill in a basic jobapplication form. Expansion of education andtraining should go hand in hand with strongincentives to learn the skills needed to break out of the cycle of crime.

Mark Oaten MP Member of Parliament for Winchester, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary

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I would rethink crime and punishmentby mainstreaming and integratingrestorative justice fully into our criminaljustice system. Unless we bring alldimensions and consequences ofcriminal offending into our courts andcriminal procedures – not just punishingoffenders but also giving victims theirplace and engaging local communities –we will never tackle crime effectively.

Ninety per cent of crime victims findrestorative justice helps them get overwhat happened. Many offenders stop orreduce their criminal activity after beingconfronted directly with the impact oftheir crimes on others. And citizens whohave participated become more engagedthemselves with upholding standards intheir local communities. The facts speakfor themselves. Restorative justice is anidea whose time has come.

Sir Charles PollardFormer Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, Member of the YouthJustice Board, Chairman, JusticeResearch Consortium

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I would rethink crime and punishment bylooking at it through a gender lens.Violence against women is far morewidespread than people think – domesticviolence accounts for a quarter of allviolent crime – but perpetrators are rarelybrought to justice. Far fewer women thanmen turn to crime and they do so for verydifferent reasons. Women’s prisons arefilled with people who have experiencedabuse, poverty, disadvantage and poormental health. Few women working at thetop has meant that justice is ‘man-made’.

Women experience many injustices in thejustice system. Looking through a genderlens is the first step in creating a fairersystem for all.

Dr Katherine Rake Director, Fawcett Society

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I would rethink crime and punishmentby rethinking whether the framework of what is needed to improve the waythat punishment fits the crime is inplace. All that is needed is the politicalwill to flesh it out.

The numbers in custody must bereduced. Attention must be paid to ensuring that there are sufficientnumbers of trained supervisors availableto oversee all alternatives to custody.These should include many of theprogrammes currently conducted in prison such as education, work skills, drug treatment programmes and teaching sustainable life styles to the mentally disordered.

Sir David RamsbothamFormer Chief Inspector of Prisons

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I would rethink crime and punishment bytaking children of 14 and under out of acriminal justice process designed foradults. Child courts would address welfareissues and place those found guilty ofgrave offences, such as killing, in localauthority custody, close to home.

Older children, of up to 18, would also be removed from the care of the prisonservice and the young offenderinstitutions that produce a grievous toll of unhappiness and suicide.

Treating children more humanely wouldsend a powerful message to a systeminclined, across the board, to focus toomuch on punishment and too little onrehabilitating the vulnerable of all ages.

Mary RiddellColumnist, The Observer

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I would rethink crime and punishmentby putting an end to the myth that prisonworks. Politicians must stop looking toAmerica for tough ways of dealing withcrime and they need to show leadershipto do what’s right for us all. I’d feel saferknowing that crime prevention measuresare in place, alienated communities aresocially included and that mentally illand drug dependent offenders aretreated not punished.

It’s a crime too that so many vulnerablewomen are in jail. We waste so muchhuman potential if we are unimaginativewhen responding to crime.

Dame Anita Roddick Founder, The Body Shop

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introducing felons to other lawbreakers and soincreasing their criminal opportunities?

Perhaps – from a purely crime reduction perspective– some people should be locked up longer andothers should be told to go home. I want to find out,and this is too important for us to go on relying onconvention, gut feeling or political inclination.

Meanwhile our focus on punishment distracts usfrom the thousands of more immediate and oftencheaper steps we can take to redesign products,policies and services to make the prospect ofdetection more certain and, better still, to makecrime less tempting and less easy to commit.

Nick RossBroadcaster

I would rethink crime and punishment bydivorcing the two concepts. Crime andpunishment have surprisingly little incommon and it is tragic that they are socommonly muddled up. Punishment is an idea based on people’s sense of fairnesstinged with revenge. Crime is a function of people’s predisposition to offend andthe temptations and opportunities infront of them.

Let justice be done and revenge be had,but let us stop kidding ourselves thatpunishment axiomatically cuts crime.Given the vast investment in prisons andother punishments it is extraordinary how little scientifically credible researchhas been done on its effectiveness inreducing wrongdoing.

Intuitively fear of punishment must havesome deterrence – but many of the worstcrimes are committed in the heat of themoment when the consequences aren’tthought through. And even in plannedcrimes where offenders may weigh up therisk of getting caught, how often do theyseriously calculate the penal tariffs?Inevitably punishments such as prisonreduce the opportunities to offend; but dothey also have negative effects – such as

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I would rethink crime and punishmentby concentrating far more resources on programmes of restoration. Faith communities have a profoundunderstanding of forgiveness as ademanding, restoring process – far moredemanding than locking people up andfar more compensating of victims thanconstantly increasing sentences.

Faith is about seeing big possibilities in small stories, and there are many ofthose. The good news is that most peoplewho think about crime and punishmentagree with the shift to restoration; thebad news is that it is politically hard to say. So I’d say the first requirement is courage.

Peter SelbyBishop of Worcester and Bishop to HM Prisons

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I would rethink crime and punishment by tackling institutional racism anddiscrimination by putting in place a truly diverse management team withresponsibility for the leadership andmanagement for one of the criminaljustice agencies.

It would provide an interesting dimensionin how far race and diversity issues cantruly be embedded (or mainstreamed) inorganisations. Targets for the organisationwould remain similar to the ones familiarto most of us in measuring performancesuch as staffing profile, proportion ofblack, minority and ethnic staff, ‘user’confidence, community confidence andvalue for money etc. There are plenty of examples of the alternative option.

Beverley ThompsonRace and Equalities Advisor/Head ofthe Race and Equalities Action Group,Prison Service

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I would rethink crime and punishmentby developing incentives targeted atbreaking the current alarmingreoffending rates. Society must learnfrom its communal errors. We mustengage, not simply punish. Prisonnumbers will only ever increase ifsocietal responsibilities and mindsetsdon’t alter.

We must help offenders and ex-offendersbreak the chains of institutionalisationwe have enforced; the shackles of‘infantilisation’ we have forged.

We must promote confidence to breakthe addiction of dependence our systemscreate. If not, our communal charges willonly ever increase in both human andfiscal terms.

Dr Bruce Wall Executive Director, London ShakespeareWorkout Prison Project

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I would rethink crime and punishment byensuring that if prison is to work it must bepurposeful and prisoners must spend theirdays in education and work. Offendingbehaviour courses must be properly linked with post-release supervision.

At the moment we take people who arepoorly educated and come fromunstructured lifestyles, lock them up inidleness and then open up the prison gates expecting them to lead industrious,law-abiding lives. It is cloud cuckoo land.

I would like to see a Government plan forintroducing full working days into everyprison by 2012 and before anyone protestsabout cost let me point out that there aresuch things as self-financing workshops and that investment in rehabilitationbenefits us all.

The Right Honourable Ann Widdecombe MPMember of Parliament for Maidstone and The Weald, former Prisons Minister

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As for alternatives, the public need to feelreassured – which they don’t at themoment – that a non-custodial sentenceisn’t just a bit of gardening, and if theoffender doesn’t bother to turn up even forthat, no-one cares one way or the other.

The fact is that non-custodial sentencesin some places are strictly carried out,and non-appearance means beingbrought back to court. The more effortsthat are made along these lines, and at thesame time to get the offender to face up to the harm they have been responsiblefor, the less need for vastly overcrowdedprisons, the limited opportunities forrehabilitation and education, and firsttime offenders mixing constantly withhardened long-time criminals.

Yes, society needs to be protected, butwith 59 per cent of those discharged fromprison re-offending again within twoyears, one must ask if we are going theright way about trying to do this.

David Winnick MP Member of Parliament for Walsall North, Member of the Home AffairsSelect Committee

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I would rethink crime and punishment by first of all welcoming a public debate on prisons and thealternatives to custodial sentences; ‘lock them up and throw away the keys’ has always been, of course,the most simplistic reaction amongst some sectionsof the community towards offenders.

A different, and still simplistic, attitude is to give theimpression that very few indeed need to be imprisonedin the first place. However, with a prison populationnow of over 75,000 it is time to seriously considerwhat can be done to find other ways of dealing withthose who have engaged in criminality. I believe thatwith very few exceptions, it is generally agreed that themore serious offences should lead to imprisonment,and in some instances certainly to lengthy sentences.

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Tony AdamsVictor Adebowale Jonathan AitkenGraham AllenEric Allison Jeffrey ArcherVera BairdPaul CavadinoChristopher Compston Frances Crook James Gaddas Cheryl Gillan David Harker Roger HowardDouglas HurdStephen IrwinErwin James Derek LewisKen LivingstoneCharlotte LucasJuliet LyonPeter MartinBill Midgley Cormac Murphy-O’ConnorTheodore MutaleJonathan MyersonMark Oaten Charles PollardKatherine Rake David RamsbothamMary RiddellAnita Roddick Nick RossPeter SelbyBeverley ThompsonBruce Wall Ann WiddecombeDavid Winnick

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We’d like to thank everyone concerned for theircontributions to this book. Reassuringly there is much in common between their thoughts, and the findingsand recommendations from RCP’s substantial work,Rethinking Crime & Punishment: The Report.

In particular, three messages stand out.

Firstly, the need for a much greater emphasis on theprevention of crime. This involves both making it moredifficult and less rewarding for people to offend andhelping young people grow up with a strong sense ofright and wrong.

Secondly, when we do lock people up, that time shouldbe used to equip them with the skills and knowledgethey need to go straight. The barriers to finding a placeto live and employment also need to be addressed.

Finally, we need to develop community-basedsentences in a way which ensures that prison is reallyused as a last resort. This involves tackling the severeeducational, mental health and drug problems which liebehind so much crime and providing opportunities foroffenders to pay back for the harm they have caused.

It is easy to suggest that crime and anti-socialbehaviour is best dealt with by an uncompromisingget-tough approach. But as the contributors to thisbook recognise, a complex set of social problemsrequires a more considered solution and investment inthe kinds of measures which keep people out of troubleand assist those who do offend to lead a law abidinglife in the future.

Rob AllenDirector, Rethinking Crime & Punishment

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Rethinking Crime & Punishment (RCP) is a four-year £3 million initiative ofEsmée Fairbairn Foundation aboutprison and other forms of punishment.It was set up in 2001 in response towidespread concern about the UK’sgrowing reliance on imprisonment.The specific aims of RCP have been to increase public knowledge aboutprison and alternatives, encouragepublic involvement in criminal justiceand inject fresh thinking into thedebate about crime.

RCP has funded projects includingresearch studies, awareness andeducation campaigns, inquiries, eventsand community involvement exercises.RCP has also sponsored a majorindependent inquiry looking atalternatives to prison. Throughout,RCP has disseminated the emergingfindings from its work with politicians,practitioners and through the media.

Chairman: Baroness LinklaterProject Director: Rob Allen

Rethinking Crime & Punishment is a strategic initiative of Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, charity number 200051.

Rethinking Crime & PunishmentEsmée Fairbairn Foundation11 Park Place, London SW1A 1LP

Telephone: 020 7297 4700Email: [email protected]

www.rethinking.org.ukwww.esmeefairbairn.org.uk

December 2004