Ofsted report on child jails and secure units

Ofsted has issued a report today on the resettlement needs of children who are held in privately run child jails and local authority units. This once again illustrates how supine and ill-equipped Ofsted is to protect children in penal custody. 
The inspectors are meant to look at the welfare, protection and well being of children sent [...]

August 12, 2010  Tags: , ,   Posted in: Children and young people  2 Comments

Who are the villains and some other questions

Sir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, yesterday waded into an issue that up until now has found relative political consensus – the fact that England and Wales require fewer people in prison.
Kenneth Clarke’s recent statement that short sentences were ineffective was largely endorsed by the Labour Party leadership candidates at a recent Howard League [...]

August 11, 2010  Tags: ,   Posted in: Prisons  One Comment

Preventing domestic violence

The terrible shootings in Northumberland resonated with conversations I have been involved in at a local level in London about preventing domestic violence and supporting victims. 
The concentration by politicians over the past decade on anti-social behaviour has forced the police to focus on trivia instead of preventing more serious crimes.  It is easy to have [...]

July 6, 2010  Tags:   Posted in: Police  2 Comments

Three good things

Yesterday was a good day. I went to hear Kenneth Clarke, the new secretary of state for justice, deliver his lecture to the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies in King’s College. It has been well covered in the media so I won’t go over it again, just to say that we welcome his rational [...]

July 1, 2010  Tags: , ,   Posted in: Government policy, International  One Comment

Budget cuts

The BBC is reporting that tomorrow’s budget will include a promise to force local authorities to freeze the council tax. This may not be all the good news that the journalists are claiming. There are areas of local authority spending that have ramifications for individuals but also for how we all feel about [...]

June 21, 2010  Tags: ,   Posted in: Children and young people, Government policy, Uncategorized  No Comments

Protecting young victims

The trial of two young children for an alleged sexual assault on an eight year old girl makes for distressing reading, and I have to be careful as I cannot make any comment on a case whilst it is being tried.  But I do want to raise a more general point about child victims. 
Almost all [...]

May 14, 2010  Tags: , ,   Posted in: Children and young people, Victims  No Comments

Children’s prison to close

Castington prison for children is to close – fantastic news. One down, quite a lot more to go. Castington, in Northumberland, is hundreds of miles away from the homes of many of the young people incarcerated within its bleak walls. I visited a few years ago and found lads from inner city London, bemused and [...]

February 23, 2010  Tags: , ,   Posted in: Children and young people  2 Comments

End of prisoner early release scheme announced

Ending this early release scheme is a welcome step, as the scheme did nothing to increase public confidence in the justice system. Nevertheless, the scheme was originally introduced for the very good reason that our prison system was full to capacity.  Even with the scheme in place prison overcrowding remained at crisis levels and now [...]

February 22, 2010  Tags:   Posted in: Government policy  2 Comments

Rape is rape, wherever and whenever

Apparently most people think that in some circumstances rape victims should accept responsibility for being attacked. This raises some interesting questions about our attitudes to victims and crime. 
The law punishes a perpetrator of a fraud against an employer with additional severity because it is a breach of trust. Yet, when a woman is raped by [...]

February 15, 2010  Tags:   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

Lap dancing clubs and local powers

New powers for local authorities to refuse permission for a lap dancing club will be introduced in April. I think this is a welcome move for several reasons. I agree with Harriet Harman that local people should be able to decide for themselves if they want a sleazy club in the neighbourhood. It should be [...]

February 12, 2010  Tags: ,   Posted in: Government policy, Prisons  No Comments