'Tear up the sentencing guidelines and jail EVERY looter': Crackdown on looters revealed
Aug 17, 2011
from Louise Boyle's article in the Mail Online:
Magistrates have been ordered to send all those involved in last week's riots and looting to jail, a court heard today.
Chair of the bench at Camberwell Green Magistrates Court, Novello Noades, revealed the instructions while sentencing one looter to six months in prison.
London courts had allegedly been emailed by a clerk within HM Courts and Tribunals Service, telling them to ignore normal guidelines which might have recommended non-custodial sentences for riot-related cases.
....The Criminal Justice Alliance, which represents around 60 organisations, said society had become over-reliant on prison, which should be reserved for those who have committed serious offences.
Vicki Helyar-Cardwell, the group's director, said: 'Over the last week people will have been shocked by the way the rioters trashed and looted their own neighbourhoods, with seeming disregard for the very places that they live.
'Whatever sentences are meted out, both the offenders and the victims will continue to live together in these neighbourhoods, and so we must start to repair this harm.'
She called for victims and members of the public to be given a say in how offenders could make amends in their communities.
'It brings everyone involved in a crime together to talk about the impact, and what needs to happen to repair the harm caused.
'Restorative justice is very popular amongst victims and can help those hurt by crime feel a sense of closure.
'Importantly, it reduces the likelihood of reoffending, and can make substantial reductions in repeat offending for violent and property crime.'
Ms Helyar-Cardwell added: 'Imprisoning young people could turn some opportunistic looters into hardened criminals.
'Half of all prisoners go on to reoffend within a year of release, and for young offenders the rate is even higher.
'We need to reserve prison for serious offences, making sure effective alternatives such as restorative justice are in place that can command the confidence of victims and communities.
'The rioters should be confronted with the real human impact of their behaviour. Restorative justice is a means of doing this.'
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In the UK, Restorative justice has been debated in Parliament and appeared in policy papers more times in the last 12 months than in the last 12 years. There is definitely an appetite and a momentum. <br />However, I am not sure about the motives behind the interest. Take for instance the Mayor’s interest in what many have called “restorative justice post the riots”. The statement suggests that offenders should repay and restore as part of their sentence. Is this really restorative justice? Those who work in the field know that it is about the empowerment of all parties; and that includes the victims and the communities affected. Restorative justice is not about finances and cutting costs. 3000 convictions are been estimated across the country. In September 2010, there were 1,637 young people (15-17 years) in prison, 273 children (12-15) in privately run secure training centres (STCs) and 160 in local authority secure children homes (SCHs). In addition, there were 10,114 young adults (18-21) in prison (Berman 2010: 7). According to the Offender Management Caseload Statistics, in 2009, the UK had 151 prisoners per 100,000 population, the second highest rate in Western Europe, below Spain. According to 2010 Ministry of Justice data, the reoffending rate post-custody is high compared with other disposals. While the overall reoffending rate across all disposals is 40%, the reoffending rate post-custody is almost 50%, meaning that approximately half of all offenders sentenced to prison will go on to commit a further offence <br />I do think that there is an opportunity for more restorative justice; we know that prison does not work and I am nervous locking up yet even more young people who have offended for the first time and who are indeed willing to take account for what they did and genuinely restore.