We can't afford to repeat the mistakes of the last decade

We can’t afford to repeat the mistakes of the last decade

Posted May 31, 2011

The statistics on crimes committed by repeat offenders should be a wakeup call (Daily Mail, ‘Dodging Justice’, 30 May) Ken Clarke is right to call it a ‘national scandal’. Intensive community sentences are more effective than sending these people to a few weeks in jail so surely it is right for us try another approach that actually cuts crime rather than fills prisons. The state of our prisons, finances, and our streets mean we can’t afford to repeat the mistakes of the last decade.

Intensive Community Sentence, Ken Clarke, repeat offenders

Roma Hooper

Roma has worked in and around the criminal justice system since 1992, when she was asked to help set up Britain’s first prison radio station at Feltham Young Offenders’ Institution. She has a Masters in Criminal Justice Policy from the London School of Economics, is Chair of the Griffins Society (supporting women in the criminal justice system), Vice-Chair of the Foundation Training Company (which runs a series of prison and community based resettlement and development programmes) as well as Chair and Founder of the Prison Radio Association. In 2010 she launched Make Justice Work, a campaign to highlight the cost of short-term prison sentences and to improve public confidence in community sentences.