Prison discipline A new report from the Howard League for Penal Reform (Monday 23 November) claims that the disciplinary system in prisons creates a pervasive sense of injustice, fuelling conflict and overcrowding, and should be overhauled, as figures show that the number of formal hearings has risen to a record… Work with Offenders looks at a briefing from the Howard League on problems with the prison disciplinary system...
Last week the Howard League for Penal Reform a sentencing toolkit to ensure better outcomes for children facing sentence in the criminal courts. The toolkit was developed through work with 80 young people in contact with the criminal justice system and draws on the expertise of the Howard League legal… Work with offenders profiles a new Howard League resource invaluable for our readers working in youth justice...
HM Inspectorate of Probation today (24 November) published its annual report, Inspection of Youth Offending Services 2019-20 in which it concluded that improvements are required in more than half of the 16 youth offending services inspected this year. Inspectors found inconsistences in performance remain, with assessment of risk of harm… Work with Offenders examines the probation inspectorate’s annual report on youth offending services...
The challenge of coronavirus Probation and youth offending services have responded well to the COVID-19 pandemic but attention must now turn to tackling backlogs and longer-term problems. That is the verdict of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMI Probation) in two separate reports published today. HMI Probation inspected the work… Work with Offenders looks at the conclusions of two new reports from the probation inspectorate...
A new report, “Stories of Injustice” published today by academics at Manchester Metropolitan University casts new light on the number and experiences of women imprisoned under laws relating to joint enterprise. What is joint enterprise? Joint enterprise is a doctrine of criminal law which permits two or more defendants to… Work with Offenders on a new report which sheds light on joint enterprise laws...
The Ministry of Justice has just updated its guidance on its Witness Intermediary Scheme. Most people haven’t heard of intermediaries, they are a hidden cog in the wheels of justice. A relatively new profession, intermediaries work with the police and courts as communication specialists to ensure adults with communication difficulties… Work with Offenders looks at the latest state of a critical service which is a hidden cog in theworkings of the justice system...
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has just released a new statistical bulletin looking into childhood vulnerability to victimisation for the three-year period up to March 2019. Based on the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) for those two years, it reports on victimisation and negative behaviours of children… Work with offenders looks into new data about childhood vulnerability...
The Ministry of Justice and the Office for National Statistics has published the first edition of its regular quarterly Criminal Justice Statistics bulletin to cover the lockdown period. The bulletin covers the year from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020 and the statisticians have included additional information to show… Work with Offenders delves into the detail of the latest official data...
Sue McAllister, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO), has published her annual report for 2019-20, a year which ended with the PPO, like so many other organisations, having to restructure reshaping its activities to ensure it could carry out its vital work during the COVID-19 period. Sue McAllister expressed her… Work with Offenders looks at the annual report from the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman...
At the end of last month the MOJ published an interesting and somewhat unusual new report telling the story of the prison population in England and Wales between 1993 and the present day. The report is presented in slidedeck format and is a fascinating read. The report shows how the… Work with Offenders looks at an intriguing new document from the Ministry of Justice...