Comment
Comment
18 August 2022
Such was the emotion when I finished reading Unlawful Killings, the memorable account by Her Honour Wendy Joseph QC of her time sitting as a judge at the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey).
Before putting down the book, my mind reached back into a day like no other, in a magistrates court as a duty probation officer.
Comment
15 August 2022
He wrote:
The poor feel the full clenched fist of the criminal justice system, while the well-off are rarely touched by the system at all, and when they are touched it is oh so gently.
An alliance of academics and penal reformers called Is it a crime to be poor? recently set up a website to discuss these issues. Here, we look at penalties for contempt of court through that lens.
Comment
12 August 2022
But they also possess structures of governance, oversight and accountability which create a machinery of power - and a potential force for change.
Comment
10 August 2022
As part of the new strategy, we will be committing to creating lively spaces for collaboration and learning, where conventional criminal justice policy agendas are scrutinised and challenged, fresh knowledge and ideas are discussed, and transformational solutions are developed.
Comment
15 July 2022
I made a point of arranging a home visit at the outset of the order, as Rahim had had prior contact with a local youth offending team.
On my arrival I was greeted warmly by Rahim's mother and offered a refreshing herbal tea. We looked together at how the new probation order might work, with Rahim conspicuously apart in a corner of the room. Some past, unspecified, event had resulted in a sensitivity to being touched.
Comment
22 June 2022
Service-user involvement and social inclusion-based services are now seen as a useful part of service provision to assist people in the criminal justice system reintegrate back into society. The criminal justice system is starting to adopt the use of services that promote social inclusion, well-being, and consideration to skills acquisition for people in trauma informed environments.
Comment
15 June 2022
Social inclusion can be defined as having a sense of belonging, and participating in roles in the community which have value. When people experience some or all of these conditions in their life, they are more likely to be happier and healthier. Overall, social inclusion is seen as an important determinant of health.
Comment
12 June 2022
This dates from the earliest days of the Society of Friends in the 1650s, when Quaker Meetings were illegal, and we were often persecuted for holding them. Our founder, George Fox, was often imprisoned, and one of the best-known advocates of prison reform was the Quaker, Elizabeth Fry, in the 19th century.
Comment
10 June 2022
This week, an escaped prisoner appeared on an episode of the Birmingham-based podcast, The Chop Shop.
"I'm not hiding from nobody, my name's Greggor Grey" he said. He went on to say that he had absconded from HMP Sudbury, an open prison, in mid-May because of the "injustice and heartache" he had endured, saying that he cried himself to sleep every night.
Comment
9 June 2022
This time, unusually for me, it was reading the memoir by John Sutherland, a former Metropolitan police officer. A phase used through out was "every contact leaves a trace". IT reminded me of an police-related incident at the probation office I then worked at. It involved a strange mixture of a stake-out, a selectively incontinent client, and a remarkable probation officer.
Speech
16 May 2022
The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies has had a long standing interest in joint enterprise.
We first worked with JENGbA on research which led to the publishing in 2016 of a report written by Becky Clarke and Patrick Williams called Dangerous Associations.