News

What kind of society do we want?

Wednesday, 3 June 2015

Sir Michael Marmot of University College London, writing in The Lancet, has made the case for putting tackling health inequalities at the top of the political agenda.

In the article titled 'What kind of society do we want: getting the balance right', Marmot outlines six actions that can be taken:

  1. Give every child the best start in life
  2. Education and lifelong learning
  3. Employment and working conditions
  4. Minimum income for healthy living
  5. Healthy and sustainable housing and communities
  6. A social determinants approach to disease prevention

Professor Danny Dorling of Oxford University, writing for the New Statesman in advance of the publication of a new edition of his book, Inequality, has outlined five 'myths' of inequality and presents data to challenge these myths:

  1. Elitism is efficient
  2. Exclusion is necessary
  3. Prejudice is natural
  4. Greed is good
  5. Despair is inevitable

The Centre is keen to engage in dialogue with others on how best to reduce social harm, and therefore make criminal justice obsolete. You can read some of the alternatives proposed in our 'I would build' series, that forms part of the Justice Matters project.

If you have an idea for an 'I would build' then please get in touch with the Justice Matters team.