Comment

An abundance of law and an absence of order

By 
Richard Garside
Friday, 18 June 2021

At the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, we envisage a society less dominated by criminalisation and punishment, because we find better ways to prevent and address the problems we face.

Through our collaborations, locally, nationally and internationally, we take practical steps to achieve this vision in the here and now.

We also acknowledge the significant barriers we face.

As the pace of social, economic and technological change is quickening, our approach to law and order is stuck in the past. After years of legislative hyperactivity, there is an abundance of law, and an absence of order. Too many communities are over-policed and under-protected. All-too-often, unnecessary criminalisation compounds, rather than addresses, problems.

We are committed to working with others to mark out transformative solutions to the problems we face, and to address the harmful consequences of our over-reliance on policing, prosecution and punishment.

Like many organisations, we have had to adapt to the disruptions of Covid-19, staying light on our feet; turning challenges into opportunities.

Early on in lockdown, we quickly established a new programme of work, tracking responses to Covid-19 in prison across a number of European jurisdictions. The report we published in July last year, developed in consultation with the World Health Organisation, was one of the first attempts to produce consistent and comparable data across a number of countries.

Through various webinars, including one we held earlier this week, we have explored the challenges to the prison system posed by Covid, and what the learning there might be for the management of future pandemics.

We have also been at the forefront in calling for the early release of prisoners, and the mass vaccination of all prisoners and prison staff.

The disruptions of Covid have therefore been of the creative kind. They have sharpened our understanding of what needs to be done, and what our role as an organisation is in shaping a better future.

This means bringing people together to learn and to share knowledge. Indeed, we consider improved knowledge and understanding of crime and criminal justice an inherent good.

And it means collaborating with others to challenge injustices and develop practical solutions, in the here and now, to the problems our society faces.

As the lockdown restrictions continue to ease, I and my colleagues are planning our future activities, to bring these ideas to life. We hope to work with our many members, supporters and stakeholders in this endeavour.

We will be sharing our plans, and how you can work with us, over the coming months.