Justice Matters: October update
This is the latest update on Justice Matters, the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies' three year initiative promoting radical alternatives to criminal justice.
The ‘I would build....’ challenge
Imran Khan said at our recent annual lecture, ‘Most of us know what we are against, it is much harder to know what we are for’. Justice Matters aims to develop ideas about what we might build in place of the criminal justice footprint in our society. This is a challenging subject.
Rebecca Daddow has kicked us off with ‘I would build stronger communities’. How about you? What would you build in the place of criminal justice? You can write it in a sentence, a few paragraphs or a whole article. However short or long, let us have it.
The over-representation of young black men in criminal justice. A discussion event.
Last month, as part of our work on the ethnic penalty, we published articles on poverty and primary and secondary education. We have now added pieces on post-16 education and also employment. While the government recently trumpeted a fall in unemployment by six per cent, its own data revealed that in 2013 the unemployment rate for Black males aged 16-24 was 44.7 per cent.
In January we will be holding an event – ‘Justice Matters: tackling the ethnic penalty’ – that will discuss the reasons for the over-representation of young black men in the criminal justice system and how to tackle it. Our focus will be on the wider social environment that creates the context for such disproportionate and harmful punishment. Click here to register today.
The 'other' revolving door
Over the next year we intend to identify the most significant connections between Whitehall and companies in the new market-driven world of punishment. The most recent Transparency International report, on the revolving door between politics and business in the UK, argued that the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments is ineffective and needs to be replaced. You might also read what it reported about the relationship between the police and organised gangs.
If you want to help us work on this project then please get in touch.
What is the alternative to policing? What are the alternatives to prison?
Professor Tim Hope and Dr Waqas Tufail introduced a thoughtful discussion on ‘What are the alternatives to policing?’ in the first in a series of Justice Matters ‘alternatives’ seminars. A full house at our meeting room discussed issues as diverse as homelessness, prostitution, traffic policing, public re-assurance, drug-decriminalisation and policing practice. We will be publishing the introductions on our website. The next in the series ‘What are the alternatives to Prison?’ will take place in the New Year. We'll tell you more about this in our next bulletin.
A little help can go along way...
If you want you can give us an individual donation to support Justice Matters. If you are thinking about a larger grant then please contact Will McMahon.
That’s all for this month. If you would like to subscribe to our Justice Matters mailing to keep up to date with the initiative, click here.