Archive for April, 2009

Bored children won’t become responsible citizens

A third of children in prisons have felt unsafe, particularly in communal areas and during activities, and a quarter have been victims inside prison. Most boys don’t trust the staff to take this seriously.
In some prisons less than half of the children were in education or gaining skills and even those who were involved, many [...]

April 29, 2009   Posted in: Inside prisons  No Comments

Private Eye lunch

I had lunch with the editorial board of Private Eye.В  Every couple of weeks the editorial team meets and they have lunch afterwards in a pub in Soho.В  The same pub and the same menu for decades.В  There are, incredibly, still pubs in the busiest part of London where tourists simply don’t venture.В  They invite [...]

April 28, 2009   Posted in: Howard League  No Comments

Select committee influence

The House of Commons Select Committee on Children published its report on looked after children yesterday.В  We had given written and oral evidence and pleased that we are referenced some fifteen times, with numerous quotations from our evidence.
Among the many recommendations, those specifically influenced by us include:

recommendation that children being looked after under voluntary agreements [...]

April 21, 2009   Posted in: Government policy  No Comments

Short prison sentences counter-productive

So Jade Goody’s widower has been sent to prison for 12 weeks.
Everyone agrees, even magistrates, that short prison sentences are not only useless but counter-productive. The reconviction rate for people who experience a short spell in prison is nearly 80%. So the practice pretty much guarantees more crime and more victims.
Secondly, shouldn’t the children be [...]

April 15, 2009   Posted in: Government policy, Sentencing  No Comments

Capricious sentencing policy

There are three interesting articles in the Guardian today that illustrate capricious sentencing.В  A man summoned by his girlfriend to a supermarket in order to assault someone whose blow killed his (innocent) victim was given four years – premeditated violence.В  A burglar who was so inept he left his mobile phone with his photograph behind [...]

April 2, 2009   Posted in: Sentencing  No Comments