Our September ebulletin is out now
This is the September 2014 edition of our ebulletin.
WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO?
The 'ethnic penalty' and punishment
This month saw the launch of a new strand of the Justice Matters project focusing on tackling the 'ethnic penalty' driven by a concern with the disproportionate number of young black men in the penal system. Our particular focus is on the wider social environment that creates the context for such disproportionate and harmful punishment. You can read an introduction to our thinking here. The Centre's Research and Policy Assistant, Matt Ford, has kicked this off by writing about how people from black and minority ethnic groups experience poverty and primary and secondary education. Stay tuned for articles about post-16 education and employment in the coming weeks.
Poverty and institutional 'care'
An evidence and policy review of poverty and institutional care funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and co-authored by our Research Director, Roger Grimshaw, Senior Policy Associate, Rebecca Roberts and others. We were tasked with identifying anti-poverty strategies for people with experience of five institutional care settings: prisons; immigration detention; psychiatric care; looked after children; and placements for people with disabilities. Our findings were also published by the JRF in 'Reducing poverty in the UK: A collection of evidence reviews'.
Roger wrote about some of the potential anti-poverty strategies for prisoners and looked after children emerging from the findings. He also used the findings to write a piece about the joint thematic review of prisoner resettlement published on 16 September. Our roundtable event on 17 November will seek to engage organisations who work with prisoners and looked after children with a view to developing a unified anti-poverty strategy.
VAW: Changing the prescription
Rebecca Roberts argues in favour of going beyond the 'short-sightedness' of criminal justice responses in preventing violence against women. Drawing on public health approaches as outlined by the World Health Organisation, she highlights the opportunities that may lie in exploring 'upstream' primary prevention policies. Read up about our Justice Matters for Women project here, and sign our call to action here.
Is austerity an act of violence?
This month we held a roundtable discussion exploring government austerity policies as acts of violence. It was quite a lively event, with speakers covering migrant access to the NHS, housing vulnerability, fuel poverty, and discrimination against women. You can see a brief summary of the presentations and debates here.
'An awful lot of envelopes and very little evidence'...
This was how Frances Crook described government criminal justice policy at a panel discussion this month. David Faulkner reflected on the findings from his recent book 'Servant of the Crown' followed by panellists, Frances Crook, Tim Newburn and Harry Fletcher. The panellists all thought that the recent pace of change in criminal justice had caused chaos, and any new government should think more carefully about how they approach penal policy. They were concerned about the deterioration of penal conditions and the march to the marketisation and privatisation of criminal justice services. You can read a news story on the event here and a Storify of the Twitter coverage here. For those of you interested in David's work, the official Waterside Press launch of his book will take place in London on 8 October.
Market revolutions
Dr Mary Corcoran is the guest editor for the September issue of Criminal Justice Matters focusing on the marketisation of criminal justice, with contributions from Kevin Albertson, Gary Graig and Ed Cape. Sarah Lamble explores why market logic curtails possibilities for genuine alternatives and you can read Mary's introduction, 'The market revolution in criminal justice'.
On the road
The Centre's Publications Manager, Tammy McGloughlin, and Research and Policy Assistant, Matt Ford, went to Liverpool at the start of the month to attend the 42nd Annual Conference of the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control. This year's theme was Resisting the demonisation of the other: state, nationalism, and social control in a time of crisis. You can take a look at who spoke about what, access past conference papers, and listen to lectures from previous conferences.
Warrior cops to police the poor?
Our Director, Richard Garside, was quoted on the Aljazeera website this month talking about police militarisation. He highlighted how agencies tend to focus on policing the poor, especially in highly unequal societies.
Why principles are not sufficient
The Centre has responded to the public consultation about the future of pre-charge bail conducted by The College of Policing. The response, authored by Professor Ed Cape, highlights concerns and an explanation of why the proposed set of of 'principles' are insufficient in addressing some of the problems of pre-charge bail.
HAVE YOU SEEN?
Chasing reoffending rainbows
Becky Clarke's contribution to our 'I would give up' comment series focuses on the problems of using simplistic measures of 'reoffending' to record success in the criminal justice system. She goes on to consider the problems that will occur from using the payment by results initiative to tackle 'reoffending'. Becky thinks developing an alternative 'reducing harm' measure would be much more accurate and useful.
Don't just interpret the world, change it
Martine Lignon explains why she signed our Justice Matters for Women call to action. Martine says that there is more than enough research documenting the harms faced by women in prisons, and that now is the time for action. To the barricades!
One step at a time.....
Mike Guilfoyle reflects on his supervisory experience with 'Steve', who wanted to escape from his gang related past.
COMING SOON
Eve Saville Lecture: Imran Khan will speak on 'Policing in Britain: Corruption, surveillance, and institutional racism'
The leading human rights lawyer Imran Khan, best known for representing the family of Stephen Lawrence, will be giving our 2014 Eve Saville memorial lecture on Tuesday 14 October 2014. Book your place here.
Policing - is there an alternative?
Professor Tim Hope and Dr Waqas Tufail will introduce papers to stimulate debate about how Britain could downsize its reliance on policing. This is the first in a series of 'Alternatives to....' seminars that will explore options to downsize policing, prisons, probation and prosecution. The event will take place on Wednesday 22 October 2014. Book your place here.
Human rights in prisons in Scotland and Europe
A one day event at HMP Barlinnie on improving human rights in prison. This event is part of the European Prisons Observatory project, a pan-European collaboration funded by the European Commission. The day will bring together practitioners, service providers and prisoners to discuss best practice in prisons and what the highest common standards of prison conditions across the EU might be. For more information, click here.
Anti-poverty roundtable: Prisoners and looked after children - a common cause?
On Monday 17 November we will be discussing new strategic approaches to preventing poverty among children looked after by local authorities and among prisoners. In our findings published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, we outlined ways of reducing poverty based on an international evidence review. Representatives of UNLOCK and The Careleavers’ Association will respond to the findings. The discussion will inform the anti-poverty strategy of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Please register now to reserve your place.
TAKE A LOOK AT THIS.......
Now you see them, now you don't
The September issue of the Prison Service Journal is now available to download free from the Centre's website. In this special edition guest edited by Paul Crossley, Head of Young People at HMYOI Feltham, articles focus on the experiences of prisoners, staff, managers and external stakeholders involved in the opening or closing of prisons. The journal includes interviews with Phil Copple, Director of Public Sector Prisons and Jeremy Wright, the former Minister for Prisons and Probation. It also features articles from Dr Helen Johnston exploring the history of some of the closed prisons, and Dr Charles Eliot on the cultural aspects of opening a new prison.
Wealth creators? Or wage robbers?
Thinkprogress reports on evidence that wage theft - whereby an employer gives workers tasks out of paid hours or makes them pay for their own uniforms, in contravention of US labour laws - totals three times more than the amount of money stolen in robberies.
IN THE NEWS.......
Interpersonal violence bigger killer than war
The Guardian reported that an assessment paper commissioned by the Copenhagen Consensus Centre has revealed that violence between individuals kills nine times more people than wars. The report estimated that all forms of violence cost the global economy $9.5 trillion a year, but war only accounts for $167 billion of this figure.
Getting away with fraud, torture and arbitrary detention?
Margaret Hodge, chair of the public accounts committee, was highly critical of the government's complacency in allowing G4S and Serco to bid for contracts while under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, reported The Guardian. A report by the National Audit Office highlighted systematic failures in the bidding management process which leaves the government highly exposed to the risk of overcharging.
Kevin Lo, writing in The Huffington Post, raised further concerns over G4S being awarded a contract to run services at Guantanamo Bay, and called on the British Government to investigate whether they will be complicit in torture. On top of all this, Tom Sanderson, writing in OurKingdom, drew attention to Barnardo's inability to hold G4S sufficiently to account when they breach protocols designed to safeguard children held in the Cedars immigration detention centre.
The price of inequality
Professor Danny Dorling, interviewed on the BBC's HARDTalk programme this month argues for a revolution against society's richest 1 per cent and highlights the corrosive effect on society of widening inequality.
SATIRICAL NEWS CLIP OF THE MONTH
This YouTube clip of HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver tackles the thorny issue of imprisonment in the US. It's 17 minutes long and worth a watch. Includes singing. And puppets.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
'Where violence is defined as criminal, many people see it and care about it. When it is simply a by-product of our social and economic structure, many do not see it; and it is hard to care about something one cannot see'. James Gilligan (1999) Violence: reflections on our deadliest epidemic.
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This bulletin was compiled and edited by Matt Ford and Rebecca Roberts. We are always keen to hear from our readers. For comments and feedback email matt.ford@crimeandjustice.org.uk.