Authentic Face of Crime?

Posted November 24, 2011

In Intensive Community Sentences, Roma's Blog

The argument that prison is the answer to tackling re-offending is flawed (Daily Express, Opinion, 24 November). Most offenders who serve short prison sentences re-offend once they are released. This revolving door between prison and the community is a scandalous waste of taxpayers’ money. Intensive alternatives to custody are not only tough, but they are also far more effective when it comes to cutting re-offending. If we really want to cut crime, we need to accept that locking people behind bars for a few months, simply doesn’t work.

Intensive Community Sentence, prison, reoffending

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.