Right on Crime

Posted November 22, 2011

In Community or Custody Enquiry, Roma's Blog

While the right in Texas have started to look at more effective ways of punishing and rehabilitating offenders, Britain’s prison population is now at a record high (Ian Birrell, 21 November). This comes at huge cost to the tax-payer and should make today’s deficit hawks sit up and take note. Our Community or Custody National Enquiry, chaired by conservative commentator Peter Oborne, found that intensive alternatives to custody are no soft touch and are more effective than short prison sentences at cutting re-offending. Ian Birrell is right to hope for an outbreak of common sense. Like Texas, Britain too can cut crime, costs and our spiralling prison population.

National Commission of Enquiry, punishment, rehabilitation

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.