Tough love: expanding community sentencing
Roma Hooper, Founder and Director of Make Justice Work
Roma has worked in and around the criminal justice system since 1992, when she was asked to help set up Britain’ s first prison radio station at Feltham Young Offenders’ Institute. She has a Masters in Criminal Justice Policy from the London School of Economics, is Chair of the Griffins Society and Chair and Founder of the Prison Radio Association. In 2009 she launched Make Justice Work, a campaign to highlight the cost of short-term prison sentences and to improve public confidence in community sentences.
http:// www. makejusticework. org. uk / Twitter- @ RomaHooper
A broken criminal justice system
Our criminal justice system is broken. Reform is possible but it requires determination and courage by government. One area where we have a real problem is the thousands receiving short prison sentences. Since 1997 we have seen a growing population of short term prisoners as a response to changes in legislation and sentencing. Yet it is acknowledged that such sentences do not rehabilitate or deter, and that the reoffending rate is high. For such prisoners custody does not address the underlying causes of their offending- predominantly drugs and alcohol- nor do they satisfy the victims which evidence confirm would actually rather have a constructive approach which would prevent further victims, rather than simply punishment and retribution. Furthermore, providing short term custodial sentences comes at a significant cost. It is estimated that the annual cost of providing short term custodial sentences is nearly £ 320 million.
' Many community sentences are extremely robust and demanding, so much so that some offenders would prefer to go to prison '
Community sentencing
However, there is a solution in the form of community sentences. Many are proven to have a higher success rate in terms of reducing reoffending, in part because they are focused upon addressing the underlying causes of the offending, and they are significantly cheaper than a short term sentence. There is now a wealth of research based on cost-benefit analysis that shows that community sentences are both more effective and cheaper. However, community sentences have a poor image in this country, largely fuelled by inaccurate media coverage which paints community alternatives as being somehow a‘ soft option’, with pressure upon politicians to be seen to be tough on crime, even if it flies in the face of common sense. The reality is that many
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