New inquiry into the treatment of young adult offenders in the criminal justice system
This is a guest blog by Bob Neill MP, Chair of the Justice Select Committee (you can follow the work of the committee via its
23rd July 2015
Here you can find over 500 posts tracking every major development in criminal justice since 2011. You can track crime trends, court modernisation and digitisation programmes and the impact of austerity. If you’re looking for something in particular, try the search box below.
This is a guest blog by Bob Neill MP, Chair of the Justice Select Committee (you can follow the work of the committee via its
“We must be more demanding of our prisons, and more demanding of offenders, making those who run our prisons both more autonomous and more accountable while also giving prisoners new opportunities by expecting them to engage seriously and purposefully in education and work.”
The UK Justice Policy Review The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies has been publishing the UK Justice Policy Review for the last four years, in its
This is a chance to tell your story and help Clinks influence decision makers – responding to the State of the Sector survey is vitally important as it helps to develop an evidence base so Clinks can advocate on behalf of the sector. You’ll be helping Clinks to gauge the impact of policy changes on your organisation and the wellbeing of your service users. Your anonymised responses will make up a report which will be sent to key decision makers and influencers.
The latest (25 June 2015) Criminal Court Statistics, which cover January to March 2015, shows just why the new Justice Secretary Michael Gove is so keen to reform the system. The legal process continues to get slower.
An intriguing first speech from new Justice Secretary Michael Gove sets out a vision of “one nation justice policy.” The tone and content were so striking that the Guardian was moved to write an editorial sub-titled: “hope at last for penal reform?”
The reason for targeting health interventions at offenders is that poor health is often interlinked with offending. Offenders are known to suffer disproportionately from multiple and complex health issues which are often exacerbated by the difficulties they experience in accessing health and social care services in the local community.
A victim’s guide to restorative justice is a new film for victims of crime explaining the different points in the criminal justice system where they can access restorative justice. It also tells them who they can contact if they want to make use of this approach.
There has been little progress in improving the response of the police, probation and Crown Prosecution services to disability hate crime. That is the core finding of a recent (21 May 2015) joint inspection report. The report, officially titled “Joint review disability hate crime follow-up”, was designed to see how these three key agencies (although of course probation is now split into the National Probation Service and 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies) had responded to a critical joint inspection in March 2013. That earlier report set out seven recommendations which is the focus of this review.
The election of a Conservative government means that PCCs are here to stay (Labour would have abolished them), and there is much to learn from how the first generation of PCCs have approached these challenging partnership issues, and used their role to help improve responses in their area. Given the current state of crisis in the police, probation and prison services, the leadership of PCCs may turn out to be critical and there is real value in this briefing series which points the way forward, instead of merely identifying problems.
The value of this report is that it does not waste time and space rehearsing the depressing level of inequality within the criminal justice system, with which everyone is familiar.
Instead, it focuses on practical ways forward grounded in the real life work of a number of pioneering voluntary sector organisations.
Guest bloggers came from a wide range of viewpoints including several organisations with a particular criminal justice focus including prison reform, employment for women offenders, restorative justice etc. This, thankfully, made for very different priorities with limited repetition. Nevertheless, four key themes emerged from this spectrum of views.
