Why Prison Reform is not ‘soft on crime’
It’s not very politically correct these days to talk about prison reform, and of course justice must be seen to be served, both as a deterrent and to bring some kind of closure to victims of crime.
Most prisoners get £76 for their journey home (which can sometimes be a tent), with 50% of prisoners reoffending within a year. This costs taxpayers around £6 billion a year.
So it’s really important to look at why prisoners reoffend, to change things for the better and create safer communities.
Does Restorative Justice Work?
Restorative justice is when the victim and criminal (not necessarily of the same crime) meet up with a trained professional, to discuss the impact that crimes have had on victims. This stemmed from a Hawaiian practice, where everyone had to get along, due to the small population.
Studies show that this is a pretty effective way to help victims feel heard. And most criminals also are deterred (for juveniles, it has an almost 100% success rate). Here’s a case study from the above site:
A boy snatched a handbag from a 99-year old wheelchair-bound woman, left screaming for help. Her son (who was pushing her) found the boy who gave back the bag, and he pleaded guilty in court.
The man met the boy in a Restorative Justice meeting, and learned that he was just 14, and had been coerced by someone else to mug his mother. After their meeting, he shook the boy’s hand (he later wrote an apology to his mother, who felt she had ‘been heard’).
This ending is not ‘politically correct’. But it’s likely that this boy will now never reoffend, less likely if he had just been sent to a juvenile detention centre, to learn more bad habits and mingle with criminals.
Norway uses prison reform ideas like this. And has re-offending rates at below 20%, far lower than England.
Giving Released (or incarcerated) Prisoners Jobs
Tap Social Beer (Oxford) sells vegan draught and canned beers (in cardboard packs), employing recently-released prisoners (or those on day release). The beers are sold at four local community spaces, in shops or online.
Pop ring-pulls back over the holes before recycling, to avoid wildlife getting trapped.
The Glasshouse (Kent) trains female prisoners in horticulture, the houseplants sold online to provide trained jobs and income.
Many indoor plants (including lilies and sago palm) are unsafe near pets (even brushing a tail past can harm). Avoid facing indoor plants to outdoor gardens, to stop birds flying into windows.
Redemption Roasters (London) employs ex-prisoners in its Wembley roastery, and trains other as baristas, to work in its coffee shops. Choose loose coffee, not wasteful coffee pods.
Avoid caffeine for pregnancy/nursing. Use a sink protector mat to stop grounds clogging drains (bin them, as caffeine could harm compost bin creatures).
Does the Death Penalty Deter Crime?
No, despite around 50% of people in the UK (and around 80% of Reform UK supporters) wanting it returned for heinous crimes (say child murder). It’s understandable, but the proof is that it simply does not deter (most people who commit such crimes are psychopaths or on drugs, or both).
This is proven in the USA. Liberal north-eastern states (with no death penalty) have lower rates of murder. Yet states with the death penalty (like Texas) have much higher murder rates. The killers are not thinking of the consequences, when committing the crime. Prevention is key.
One fact often overlooked by supporters of the death penalty, is that some jurors will find the accused innocent, as they don’t want the responsibility of sentencing someone to death (this could be due to conscience or faith). So it could mean that guilty murders are free to kill again.
When England had the death penalty, most executions were carried out by Albert Pierrepoint (the son of an executioner, he hanged Ruth Ellis). In one miscarriage of justice, he hanged an innocent man with a mental age of 10 (then when the guilty man was found, he hung him too).
Later on in life, he retired to open a bed-and-breakfast? And said ‘All the men and women whom I have faced at that final moment, convince me that in what I have done, I have not prevented a single murder’.
The book Death at Midnight is by a former USA executioner, who reminds us that while those who support executions go about their lives afterwards, it’s people like him left having nightmares for the rest of their lives.
