Government Proposals will add more pressure to over worked prisons and court system

Posted May 23, 2012

In Community Sentences, Offender Education, Offender Rehabilitation, Prison, Roma's Blog

“Proposals published by the Government to tackle anti-social behaviour risk adding to the pressures on our already overworked courts system and over-crowded prisons. Unless sufficient commitment is made to ensure that such sanctions are robustly administered and resourced, there is a real danger that people will breach their orders and end up in prison to serve a short custodial sentence resulting in a strong likelihood that they will continue offending.

Putting people into prison for breaching anti-social behaviour orders will fail to tackle some of the underlying triggers of criminal behaviour or reduce levels of re-offending and it certainly won’t reduce the number of victims.

The Government’s hastily written and tick box driven new Community Trigger Plans will not make the impact Ministers hope, unless they deliver the package of resources necessary to ensure the reoccurrence of anti-social behaviour is prevented early on.” – Roma Hooper, Founder and Director of Make Justice Work.

anti social behaviour, asbo, over crowding

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.