New alliance
It’s hard to gauge whether the Government is on course to fix our broken criminal justice system. In their first 12 months in power, it has been quick to acknowledge the scale of the problem in our failing prison, probation and court services, has doubled down on the existing early release scheme and has commissioned two radical investigations into the problems.
Both the Sentencing Review and Criminal Courts Review have now reported and the Government has accepted (most of) their far-reaching recommendations. It has promised new funding but we are still awaiting details of how those recommendations will be implemented.
While the sector waits to find out, one thing that has definitely happened in the last year is the galvanisation of many organisations working in criminal justice. Putting aside their usual competitiveness, many have sought to build new alliances and influence the direction of justice reform.
The latest of these alliances is an unprecedented coalition of Christian leaders who this week published a new report calling on the government to work in partnership with churches, communities, and faith-based organisations to tackle a failing criminal justice system.
Picking up the pieces
The report, entitled Picking up the Pieces, outlines how Christian churches, charities, and volunteers have taken on roles once delivered by public services, supporting both victims of crime and those caught up in the justice system. The report acknowledges that the government has inherited a system in crisis and calls on ministers to invest in what works to make communities safer.
The report points out that nearly half the population of England and Wales identifies as Christian. Convened by the Prison Advice and Care Trust (Pact), Picking up the Pieces reflects the shared values of the Church of England, the Catholic Church, the Quakers, the Free Churches Group, and others. Together, they urge the government to place victims’ needs at the heart of the criminal justice process, investing in initiatives proven to tackle the root causes of crime, many of which are already being delivered by faith communities.
Faith in action
The report sets out the range of existing work that Christian organisations undertake within the justice system. Most readers will, of course, be familiar with prison chaplaincies but the report includes a number of other case studies including:
- Safe in Faith, a project of Caritas Westminster that fosters trauma-informed support for survivors of domestic abuse, sexual violence, and exploitation with an understanding of how faith shapes their experiences.
- Spark2Life, a black-led charity founded by former prisoner and ordained minister Dez Brown which runs community-based programmes, across nine London boroughs, supporting young people (11-30 years old) who are involved in and/or on the periphery of becoming involved with the criminal justice system, including those in or associated with gangs and serious
youth violence. - Pact is the national Catholic charity that supports people in prison, people with convictions, and their children and families. Originally founded as the Catholic Prisoners’ Aid Society in 1898, the charity relies on over 350 volunteers to provide its services in prisons and communities.
- The Welcome Directory is a multi-faith organisation focused on the resettlement of people leaving prison. It aims to empower faith communities to become places where people who leave prison find acceptance, discover restored relationships, and recognise the possibility of change.
Recommendations
Among its recommendations, the report shines a spotlight on three powerful but often overlooked opportunities for reform:
- Supporting the children and families of prisoners – With almost 200,000 children in the UK affected by parental imprisonment every year, the report urges the government to honour its 2024 manifesto pledge to identify and support these often-overlooked young people.
- Investing in restorative justice – Restorative justice is proven to help victims heal and reduce reoffending, delivering results at a fraction of the cost of prison. The churches call for a national rollout backed by government investment.
- Empowering faith-based communities – Churches and Christian charities are already delivering transformational change, but need recognition and resources. The report proposes a £10 million small grants scheme, with up to £20,000 available for Christian and other faith-based projects, to harness this underused potential.
[In the interest of transparency, I was commissioned by Pact to play a small role in helping develop this report.]
One Response
It’s encouraging to see faith-based organisations stepping in to address gaps in our criminal justice system