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Criminal justice agencies across the UK face a perfect storm of growing demand and shrinking budgets by the time of the next General Election, according to new analysis by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies.
A rising prison population – set to top 100,000 by 2020 – and inadequate legal aid funding are just two of the threats facing the delivery of justice across the UK, the Centre reports.
The fifth in an annual series by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, supported by The Hadley Trust, assessing year-on-year developments in criminal justice and social welfare across the UK.
Combining analysis of the main developments with key data on issues such as spending, staffing and the numbers going through the criminal justice system, UK Justice Policy Review offers an accessible overview of UK-wide developments.
This edition of UKJPR covers the final year of coalition government and the transition to the new Conservative administration.
The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies has responded to the latest speech from the Prime Minister, David Cameron, on plans to reform the prison system;
Richard Garside, Director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, said:
The outgoing Chief Inspector of Prisons, Nick Hardwick, has told The Guardian that former Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, tried to prevent him from publishing criticisms of government policies. The Chief Inspector of Prisons' Annual Report 2013-14 blamed a surge in self-inflicted deaths, suicides and assaults in prisons on policies and decisions made by the Ministry of Justice.
Planned changes to community justice arrangements in Scotland look like being a political fix that will not satisfy anyone, writes former Scottish Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill MSP
This is the text of the speech our Director Richard Garside gave at the University of Kent on current developments in criminal justice and the legacy of the coalition
In advance of today's spending review, David Walker writing in The Guardian is critical of the Treasury for its focus on the short- term. He says that even Conservatives who support cuts to government spending have been critical of the 'ramshackle way the review has been carried out'.
An unquestioning defence of police budgets makes it harder to address the many real social challenges that currently receive an inadequate criminal justice response, argues Richard Garside
The Chief Constable of Surrey Police, Lynne Owens, yesterday told the House of Commons Home Affairs Commitee that the police were 'not a civil debt recovery agency'.
She made the remarks in exchanges over whether the police should routinely pursue motorists who drive off without paying for petrol.
Michael Gove is a refreshing change from his predecessor as Justice Secretary, Richard Garside writes. But he should leave out the God-talk.
