Here we have the latest blog post from Rob Allen:-
Why the Punitive (Re)Turn?
Why is the prison population increasing? Latest projections show numbers in custody are likely to increase by 1600 – at least one new prison’s worth – by 2022. The main reason is not that more and more people are being caught and punished for criminal offences. It’s that higher and higher proportions of those who are, nowadays receive custodial sentences. And their prison terms are getting longer. Both trends are confirmed in the latest criminal justice statistics. These show that it’s not only sexual and violent offenders who are facing tougher sanctions in court. Less than a quarter of people convicted for theft in 2010 went to jail but last year it was almost 30%. Average prison terms as a whole have gone up from 13.7 to 16.6 months over the last seven years.
It’s possible that courts are seeing more serious cases or more prolific offenders than before. That’s difficult to know in the absence of detailed research. But the halving of the cautioning rate – the proportion of offenders who were either cautioned or convicted who received a caution - suggest that many more low level cases came to court in 2016 than 2010.
There are other more likely explanations for this new punitive turn. The dismantling of the probation service may have made non-custodial sentences it supervises less attractive to judges and magistrates. Since 2010 the proportion of indictable only crimes - the most serious - dealt with by a community order or suspended sentence fell from a quarter to a fifth. For either way offences, market share for these two disposals fell from 42% to 37%.
Another culprit may be the Sentencing Council. A recent analysis has found that the guideline it produced on burglary offences in 2011 may have inadvertently encouraged courts to deal more severely with all types of breaking and entering. Although the Council did not intend to inflate the going rate, expanding the definition of the loss to the victim in such cases and creating a long list of factors signalling greater culpability by the offender seems to have pushed courts to punish offences more harshly than before. As I argued in a report for Transform Justice last year, the Council has not only failed to curb the growth in imprisonment - its original purpose. It may have made matters worse.
A poll published this week confirmed what has long been known - that the public is much less punitive than is often supposed. Asked what they believe would be most effective in cutting crime, more police on the streets, better parenting, greater discipline in schools and better rehabilitation all score highest. Just 7% of the public think the answer is more people in prison. Yet without some bold policy making in the Ministry of Justice, that’s just what we are going to get.
Rob Allen
It certainly appears that Judges and Magistrates had lost confidence in community sentences delivered by the CRC's. However recently there seems to be a deluge of Unpaid Work requirements given after a year or so of hardly any.Along with a directive not to revoke a CO to a SSO that may result in custody by way of breach would appear to suggest that somethind is happening behind the scenes.
ReplyDeleteFailure to provide mental health care, addiction services, appropriate housing, the bedroom tax and so on, have a huge impact on the criminal justice system.
ReplyDeleteSadly, as mentioned on a blog post on here the other day, the break up of partnerships between probation and other agencies is also having a huge impact on the criminal justice system and that in turn impacts on the prison population.
But more and more people are falling foul of the criminal justice system, as a consequence of privatisation and outsourcing.
Many local councils are trying to hide their social problems by taking punitive action.
A £1000 fine for begging in the city centre, or councils like Chester that now fine people £1000 for sitting in doorways with their belongings. Your rucksack and sleeping bag is deemed an obstruction and a potential hazard to fire safety.
£1000 fines aren't really been issued, but private companies such as Kingdom are issuing £80 fixed penalty notices. It's a fine that they know can't be paid, but it's not their problem. They're not charged with collecting the money. So somewhere down the line non payment will lead to a warrent being issued, then a summons for not attending court, and the next time the police blow you through on the PNC you're arrested and put before the magistrates.
Where I live, all the public toilets are even outsourced in the city centre, and cost 40p to access. If you're homeless where do go if you haven't 40p, risk a £1000 fine for begging for it, and yore chased from the local bars if you try and use theirs. Just that basic human need to relieve yourself could lead you into the criminal justice system and ultimately a term of imprisonment.
The authorities need to stop punishing those that are the consequence of their failed polices, and start accepting responsibility themselves for failure.
There are far too many ways for people to get sacked into the criminal justice system nowadays, the more in that system will obviously impact ultimately on the prison population.
I read this article the other day, and I don't know which is sadder.
The person in the dock asking for a custodial sentence as it's the only way they might access services, or the magistrates belief that there are services that can be taken advantage of from the Probation service still.
'Getafix
Sorry, forgot to paste the article.
Deletehttp://www.examiner.co.uk/news/send-back-prison-heroin-user-13525810
A heroin user begged magistrates to send him to prison to help him overcome his addiction.
DeleteJames Fawcett, of Staincliffe Road in Dewsbury, was ordered to co-operate with the probation service following his recent release from prison. But he missed appointments with staff on June 21, July 20 and July 27.
His solicitor Rachel Sharpe took the unusual step of asking them to send her client to prison. Magistrates jailed him for 14 days, urging him to get his life back on track and take advantage of probation services upon his release.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/prison-trashed-nine-hour-riot-11060474
DeleteWith the "tweeks" that have been made to the way CRCs are paid and far less importance towards reward for results then it's more likely that recall numbers will rise.
ReplyDeleteA growth in the prison population of 1600 over the next 5years seems pretty optimistic to me.
I know there is a lot of confusion amongst sentencers about the content of programmes, RAR days and the rest of it and there is some element of suspicion regarding what drives the content of new initiatives in terms of service delivery i.e. is the 'new' thing a means of rehabilitation or of increasing profit/reducing overheads. The profit motive has corrupted the relationship between sentencers and Probation and sentencers, who are generally an intelligent but cynical lot, are steering clear of anything that smells rotten. I know some areas have all but stopped receiving referrals to sex offender programmes due to unsuitable changes linked problems with Prison programmes being rolled out into the community in spite of the fact that the whole approach is totally different. The impression that is being given is of incompetence and this is undermining the credibility of the whole of Probation. Sentencers are not making any distinction between the various strands because they are ultimately managed by the same Ministry.
ReplyDeleteAn increase in probation hostel residential capacity by 25%?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/641010/Prisoners-to-be-released-early-live-in-hostels-Dame-Glenys-Stacey-probation