Clinks Members’ Policy Briefing | January 2015
In this month's edition...Policy news
The Young Review has launched its final report and recommendations. The report highlights the specific experiences and needs of black and Muslim men aged 18-24 in the Criminal Justice System (CJS), and sets out a series of recommendations that aim to ensure action takes place to address unequal outcomes; from prison to resettlement. The Young Review is chaired by Baroness Young of Hornsey, with the support of the Black Training and Enterprise Group (BTEG) and Clinks. Jess Mullen, Senior Policy Officer at Clinks, has written a blog about the launch event for the report, that you can access here.
Transforming Rehabilitation new contracts signed. On the 18th December 2014, the Ministry of Justice announced that the new contracts for the delivery of probation services under Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) have been signed. To download a list of the new owners of each Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) click here. More information about the TR reforms can be found here.
Government response to Strengthening the law on domestic abuse consultation. The Home Secretary, Theresa May has announced that she will include a new offence of domestic violence in an amendment to the Serious Crime Bill that will explicitly criminalise patterns of coercive and controlling behaviour where they are perpetrated against an intimate partner or family member. This is due to the responses gained from the Government’s consultation into strengthening the law on domestic abuse that was opened in August 2014. Clinks responded to the consultation, highlighting the need to recognise that female offending is one of the potential long-term consequences of experiencing coercive control in intimate relationships. Clinks' response can be downloaded here.
Women and girls
Girls in the Criminal Justice System. The aim of this Criminal Justice Joint Inspection was to assess how effectively youth offending services and secure establishments, in conjunction with other organisations, are in helping to stop girls offending and in reducing the risk of harm girls present to other people. The report found that the best work in Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) was characterised by an approach to assessment and intervention that recognised girls often had different needs to boys, yet this was not consistently applied and in some cases, assessments and interventions did not take into account gender differences.
Transforming lives: reducing women’s imprisonment. This report’s key findings include a need for sustained political leadership, the importance of stable funding for women’s community services, the scope for more effective information sharing, and the opportunity to share learning about 'what works' with female offenders across the UK. The report is based on information gathered by Soroptimists across the UK in 2013-14 and was written and edited by the Prison Reform Trust.
Missing Voices: why women engage with, or withdraw from, community sentences. This research aims to provide a voice for imprisoned women; voices that offer valuable insight into how we can enhance women’s engagement in the supervisory process. The research was carried out by Sue Jordan for the Griffins Research Fellowship programme 2012-13.
Restorative Justice: Female Offenders in Restorative Justice Conferences. This report examines the experiences of female offenders in restorative justice conferences through a literature review and interviews with practitioners who work with both male and female offenders. Rosie Miles carried out the research, as part of the 2012-13 Griffins Research Fellowship Programme.
Assisting professionals to work with the children of female offenders. This poster and two page briefing gives information about the challenges faced by children and families whose mothers are involved in the CJS and how i-HOP can assist multi agency professionals to support them. It also includes examples of best practice.
Criminal Justice System
Transforming Rehabilitation- Early Implementation. This report published by HM Inspectorate of Probation found that the separation of work into the National Probation Service (NPS) and CRCs has created process, communication and information-sharing challenges that did not previously exist. The implementation of change also exposed existing shortfalls in systems, processes, practice quality, consistency, leadership and management. The report goes on to say that the probation areas that had been struggling to deliver a quality service prior to TR are now finding it hardest to adapt and cope with the challenges brought by the reforms.
Crime and policing news update. Topics this month include the modern slavery strategy, stop and search mapping and liaison and diversion schemes going live in 13 more areas. This update is for December 2014 and is published by the Home Office.
Fit for purpose: Do magistrates get the training and development they need? This report finds that investment in magistrates' training has reduced considerably over the last five years and that many magistrates would like more training, particularly in dealing with women, children, those with mental health problems and with victims and perpetrators of domestic violence. Published by Transforming Justice, the report also said that the magistracy today is less representative of the population in terms of age and ethnicity than it was 25 years ago.
Achieving best evidence in Child Sexual Abuse cases. This report sets out the findings of an inspection of both the police service’s adherence to the Achieving Best Evidence (ABE) Guidance and Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) evidential use of the resultant ABE recorded interview. Despite all the other positive work in the CJS, the report published by the Criminal Justice Joint Inspection says the quality of the ABE interview needs improvement.
Mental Health
Government review of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983. The Home Office and the Department of Health have published a report on their joint work to review the operation of sections 135 and 136 of the England and Wales Mental Health Act 1983.
Review of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act. This report by the Centre for Mental Health explores people’s experiences of Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act and their views about how they should be changed. It is based on meetings and interviews with health and social care professionals, police officers, commissioners, service users and carers who have had experience of the use of Sections 135 and 136. Commissioned by the Department of Health and the Home Office as part of their review of police powers under Sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act in England and Wales (please see above).
Ex-service personnel
The needs of ex-service personnel in the CJS. This report by the Ministry of Justice presents findings from a rapid evidence assessment of the current evidence base on the needs of ex-service personnel in the CJS, the provisions available to them, and evidence on what works in rehabilitating this group of offenders.
Volunteering
Volunteering opportunities for young adults with offending histories. Three briefing papers have been published to promote volunteering, address myths and to help tackle some of the barriers to volunteering experienced by young adults with offending histories. Each briefing paper is aimed at a different audience: young adults; volunteer-involving organisations; and resettlement organisations. This forms part of a study by the Institute for Criminal Policy Research (ICPR) and the Institute for Volunteering Research (IVR) that was funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Barrow Cadbury Trust.
Work Programme
Work programme evaluation: ‘day one mandation’ of prison leavers. Those leaving prison are a heterogeneous group, some of whom have extensive barriers to employment making it difficult for them to find work in the two years of the programme, says a report published by the Department for Work and Pensions. The research report gives details of how the policy of referring prison leavers directly to the Work Programme is operating.
Blogs
Changing the lives of people with multiple needs in Yorkshire. The West Yorkshire Finding Independence (WF-FI) project, led by Clinks member DISC, was launched on Friday 5th December. The aim of the project is to help over 1000 people in the region, who are experiencing multiple needs, over the next 6 years. Ben Watson, Communications Assistant gives a highlight of the main elements of the launch event.
Labour’s plans for the voluntary sector. On 10th December Lisa Nandy, shadow civil society minister gave a speech outlining the Labour Party’s plans for the voluntary sector. Ellie Cumbo, Policy Manager at Clinks, highlights the main points covered in the speech.
Reforming attitudes to people who have been in prison: the importance of emotions. This guest blog on the Discovering Desistance website by Alejandro Rubio Arnal, explores the impact of viewing and discussing ‘The Road from Crime,’ a documentary about desistance, on religious people’s attitudes to former prisoners.
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