Our June 2016 bulletin is now available

WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO?

Time for a new approach to drugs
Following our event in May exploring Portugal's health-based approach to drug harms, our Research Associate Helen Mills wrote an article for the Scottish Herald about why it's time to rethink UK drugs policy. Helen also welcomed calls from the Royal Society of Public Health to recognise drug misuse as a health issue rather than a criminal justice one.

The serial killer in our midst
Our Deputy Director, Will McMahon, in an online article, argued that austerity, deregulation and government law-breaking mean there is little chance of reducing the annual death toll from pollution in the near future. 

Don't let them get away with it
With the news that more people have been arrested over the abuse uncovered at G4S-run Medway children's prison, Will McMahon called for the Justice Select Committee to hold the G4S board to account.

'Elder abuse' is a complex and varied social problem
Our Director Richard Garside was quoted in The Times commenting on new data on the abuse of elderly people. Richard said that prevention is the key. Policing and prosecution had a very small role to play precisely because so much elder abuse it never comes to light.

Like what we're doing?
If you like what we do, why not support us by joining as a member? There are a range of benefits, and we offer differential rates depending on your income.

HAVE YOU SEEN?

Action on short prison sentences now!
Former Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, writing for our website, makes the case for restraint in the use of short-term prison sentences.

Memoirs of a probation officer
Read Mike Guilfoyle's latest reflection from his time as a probation officer. This time he talks about supervising 'Donal', who struggled with alcohol dependency.

COMING SOON

Alternatives to criminal justice: Building social justice solutions
Join us on Wednesday, 20 July for this workshop where we'll be asking participants to use our new toolkit to develop radical ways of preventing, reducing and repairing harm, without using the punishment and exclusion of criminal justice. 

Gendered violence in activist communities
This event on Wednesday 21 September will mark the launch of a report and toolkit by the Salvage Research Project about gendered violence in activist communities. Their research explores harm, violence and abuse experienced by women, non-binary and transgender people in radical activist communities in the UK. It will include a panel discussion of the key findings and implications for action and social justice.

Criminal justice since 2015: What happened? What next?
This conference, on Wednesday,19 October, will review criminal justice developments across the UK since the 2015 UK General Election, consider the implications of the 2016 regional assembly elections, and look ahead to emerging criminal justice challenges across the four UK regions.

TAKE A LOOK AT THIS...

G4S: Don't blame us, blame the prison system
Activists over at the Reclaim Justice Network attended this year's G4S AGM. Read how G4S CEO, Ashley Almanza's responded to difficult questions from shareholders. 

'It makes you want to fight back'
Read Charlie Gilmour in The Guardian talk to four former prisoners about their experiences of the criminal justice system. 

Injustice
Watch Ken Fero's classic documentary about deaths at the hands of the police, and the families' struggles for justice.

NUMBERS OF THE MONTH

Check out which companies benefited and by how much from the Ministry of Justice outsourcing certain functions to the private sector between May 2010 and April 2015 (figure taken from UK Justice Policy Review 5): 

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

'Last week he drove up to Wiltshire, where prison officers screamed in his face for five minutes to test his composure. All he has to do now is drive up a second time and show that he has the strength to hold a riot shield in front of him for one minute, bench-press 25 kilos, and he's in'.
Jeremy Clarke, writing in The Spectator on 28 May, on his son's training to be a prison officer.

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