NewsArchive1

News Archive: 1

May 19, 2004: More Money for Probation

May 15, 2004: Vision for the National Offender Management Service

May 12, 2004: Probation Protest

May 10, 2004: Diversity and Race Equality - Update

May 6, 2004: The Future of Crime Mapping?

May 5, 2004: No fresh charges over racist murder

May 5, 2004: Early Day Motion on the new National Offender Management Service

May 1, 2004: Radical reform of sex offences legislation

April 30, 2004: Racism at Yaryl's Wood

29 April 2004: Public Inquiry into the Murder of Zahid Mubarek

April 1, 2004:Women Receive Rough Justice From ‘Man-Made’ System

May 19, 2004: More Money for Probation

Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Correctional Services Paul Goggins MP has announced that local Probation Areas will be awarded an extra £16.1m. The money will provide:

an increase of 1 per cent to each of the 35 non-metropolitan probation areas, totalling £3.3m
£3.5m for the seven metropolitan areas (including £1.3m for London)
a further £2.3m to improve services in London (making a total of £3.6m or 3.9 per cent additional funding for London)
£6m additional capital funding for investment in new buildings or the refurbishment of existing properties
£1m to cover new revenue costs that the extra capital spending will entail

In addition, areas will receive funding to recruit 780 Trainee Probation Officers (TPOs) and 365 Probation Service Officers (PSOs), so that the Probation Service is equipped to deliver new community sentences that will be brought in as part of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

The Criminal Justice Act 2003 introduces a new sentencing framework and replaces current community and custodial penalties with the Community Sentence, Custody Plus, Custody Minus, and Intermittent Custody. It is anticipated that the current workload of the National Probation Service will rise from 205,000 offenders daily to approximately 245,000 when all the provisions are implemented. The new National Offender Management Service (NOMS), which brings together the management of the Prison and Probation services, is critical to the successful delivery of the Act and more information about the changes is contained in the Government’s response to the Correctional Services Review, Reducing Crime, Changing Lives.

TPOs undertake a two-year degree course that combines academic and practice learning and leads to the award of the Diploma in Probation Studies and qualification at NVQ Level 4. PSOs operate at NVQ Level 3 and have a variety of in-service training courses to equip them to deliver services such as enhanced community punishment, accredited programmes and basic skills assessments. They also have the opportunity to study for the Certificate in Community Justice.

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May 15, 2004: Vision for the National Offender Management Service

Martin Narey, Chief Executive of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), has outlined his vision for NOMS. Within five years, he wants to see a Service which:

Enjoys the confidence of Ministers, sentencers, offenders and the public at large
Engages with sentencers locally and nationally, and provides them with professional, appropriate and timely advice both in individual cases, and on the impact and outcomes of their collective sentencing decisions
Provides genuine end to end management of offenders, whether in custody or the community, which appropriately balances the need for punishment and the protection of the public with helping offenders to address the causes of their offending
Working with partners in other agencies, and service providers in the public, private and voluntary sectors, offers sentencers and offenders a coherent and comprehensive range of support and interventions designed to reduce reoffending
Harnesses the commissioning role of Regional Offender Managers in ways which rewards success, encourages innovation, improves choice and delivers the best possible service for the budget we are given
Demonstrably reduces reoffending and crime
Is confident and has a genuinely diverse workforce at all levels which is proud to work within NOMS

Narey believes that NOMS “will see a significant expansion of community penalties that… will persuade sentencers to use custody less frequently”. In his view,

“The biggest and most important change with NOMS however will be the transition of Probation Officers into Offender Managers, managing offenders under community penalties but also, for the first time, having a significant influence on what happens to an offender in prison.”

While prison governors will continue to be entirely accountable for the running of their prisons, Narey expects the Offender Manager to be consulted in deciding which prisoners are, for example, put on offender behaviour programmes.

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May 12, 2004: Probation Protest

1200 staff from throughout England and Wales lobbied against plans to merge the probation and prison services into the new National Offenders Management Service (NOMS). The rally reflected widespread concern amongst probation staff about the transition to NOMS, due to commence on June 1, 2004.

The rally was organised by Napo, the trade union representing over 7500 probation and family court staff. Napo believes that NOMS will mean greater bureaucracy and confusion. According to a Napo statement:

“The Probation Service was last reorganised in April, 2001, is chronically underfunded and understaffed and does not need yet another reorganisation. Staff also feel they are being cajoled into accepting the changes with the threat of contestability or privatisation if they do not meet arbitrarily set targets.”

Napo general secretary Judy McKnight told the rally:

"Today our fight is not just about seeking to preserve our standards and ethos and values, and yes, all those issues are at risk again, but it is also much more. It is about the opposing destruction of the service in its entirety, by splitting it in two, and casting it out to the wolves of the private sector."

Speakers from the three major political parties who opposed the planned merger included Labour MP Bob Marshall-Andrews. He argued that offenders were best dealt with via rehabilitation rather than punishment and prison. If NOMS moved away from this principle, it represented a “ghastly Orwellian idea."

The Home Office plans to introduce “contestability” by 2009 and allow private organisations and voluntary agencies to compete with the public sector, The Home Office perspective suggests that developing a market will enable value for money for the taxpayer and reduced offending, and ensure that the service can benefit from private sector input.

Napo sees the move to allow this as effectively introducing privatisation, and inherently problematic in that public protection may be compromised by private firms cutting corners. Members of Parliament were urged by Napo to sign an early day motion which endorses the work of the Probation and Prison Services and urges that these be properly funded to allow them to carry out all their statutory duties free of the threat of contestability. According to a Napo press release:

"The Probation Service was last reorganised in April 2001, is chronically underfunded and understaffed and does not need yet another reorganisation."

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May 10, 2004: Diversity and Race Equality - Update

The Home Office published two reports today (May 10, 2004) evaluating developments in promoting diversity and race equality among its staff. The key findings of the 2003 annual report on the Home Secretary’s Race Equality Employment Targets are as follows:

The police, prison and probation services all increased the proportion of minority ethnic staff, as did the Immigration Service.
The Home Office itself has exceeded its 2004 target of 25 per cent representation of minority ethnic staff, with the current total standing at 31.1 per cent.
In the Immigration & Nationality Directorate, of the candidates for recruitment who declared their ethnicity, 33 per cent of successful candidates were from ethnic minority groups.
The percentage of minority ethnic staff at senior civil servant level is 3.8 per cent, exceeding the target set for 2009, and meeting the Cabinet Office’s target.

The key findings of the 2002-3 Employment Monitoring report under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 are:

Of the 76 per cent of Home Office staff covered by the survey, 19 per cent were from ethnic minorities. Of the 48 per cent of IND staff covered by the survey, 27 per cent were from minority ethnic groups.
In the Home Office, the proportion of staff leaving is comparable between white and minority ethnic staff (14 per cent and 13 per cent respectively).

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May 6, 2004: The Future of Crime Mapping?

A new system of prospective crime mapping has been introduced by the Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science . It is argued that prospective crime mapping can accurately predict locations where burglaries are likely to occur. Research undertaken by the Instituteindicates that households within 400 metres of a property which has previously been burgled are at higher risk of a further offence for up to two months after the first burglary. The police are therefore being advised to increase their patrolling presence in areas at high risk of burglary. The full reference for the research is:

Bowers, K.J., Johnson, S.D., & Pease, K. (2004). Prospective Hotspotting: The Future of Crime Mapping? The British Journal of Criminology, in press.

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May 5, 2004: No fresh charges over racist murder

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have announced there is insufficient evidence to bring fresh charges over the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993. This follows a 5 year long reinvestigation by the Metropolitan police. Three white men - Neil Acourt, Luke Knight and Gary Dobson - were acquitted of Mr Lawrence’s murder in 1996. Though a 1997 inquest concluded that he was "unlawfully killed in a completely unprovoked racist attack by five white youths", no one has been convicted of the murder (though Met Police commissioner Sir John Stevens once went on record stating that he knew the killers’ identities).

In its advice to the police the CPS stated that while the reinvestigation produced an eye witness who had not previously come forward, their evidence did not provide reliable identification. There was no credible forensic evidence placing specific individuals at the murder scene. A number of accounts of alleged confessions were also investigated but almost all proved to be second hand hearsay and unverifiable and therefore not admissible. None were sufficient to support a prosecution.

The Macpherson Report into Stephen Lawrence’s murder explicity stated that the Metropolitan Police were "institutionally racist" and that this was reflected in their investigation. The Report illuminates the dynamics of race within the criminal justice system and arguably represented a key point in the development of UK criminal justice.

According to Macpherson, institutional racism pertains where there has been a "collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people.

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May 5, 2004: Early Day Motion on the new National Offender Management Service

The following Early Day Motion (EDM 1119) on the new National Offender Management Service has begun to circulate:

"That this House has deep concerns about the structure of the National Offender Management Service, particularly the lack of organisational detail; strongly endorses the work of both the National Probation Service and Her Majesty's Prison Service; and therefore calls upon the Government to ensure that both services receive adequate public funding for their purpose and that the process of contestability is not used as a threat to staff or voluntary sector providers."

May 1, 2004: Radical reform of sex offences legislation

The most radical reform of sex offences for more than 100 years, including new laws protecting the young and vulnerable and tougher penalties for dangerous criminals, come into force today (May 1, 2004). The Sexual Offences Act 2003 gained Royal Assent on 20 November 2003. It strengthens the monitoring of offenders on the sex offenders register. The Act includes:

sex with 12-year-olds and under will automatically be charged as rape which carries a maximum sentence of life;
clarification of the law on consent in regard to rape and the extension of the definition of rape;
a new grooming offence with a 10 year maximum jail sentence;
all those on the sex offenders’ register to confirm their details in person annually;
strengthening drug rape offences;
orders banning those convicted of a sex offence against under-16s from travelling anywhere in the world;
stronger protection for vulnerable people;
a new offence of trafficking people for sexual exploitation with up to 14 years in prison for offenders.

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April 30, 2004: Racism at Yaryl's Wood

An independent report into allegations of racism and mistreatment of detainees at Yarl’s Wood Removal Centre has found that there was not a general culture of racism, violence and abuse.

The report, by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman Stephen Shaw, did substantiate most of the recent allegations of racist and other abusive language but found that they were isolated and involved a very small number of staff against whom disciplinary action has been taken. However, the report makes 29 recommendations, all of which have been accepted.

The full report can be downloaded by clicking here here.

The then Home Office Minister Beverley Hughes commissioned an investigation following articles in the Daily Mirror in December 2003.

In the conclusion of his report Mr Shaw says:

"I have concluded that most of the things that Mr Sommerlad (the Mirror reporter) said happened did happen. I have also concluded that there is not a culture of abuse, racism and violence at Yarl’s Wood. These are apparently contradictory findings.

"Mr Sommerlad’s allegations are largely based on what was said during the five week training course which he attended. When taken out of context, some of these remarks were, at the least, unfortunate. There were also a number of remarks that were simply unacceptable, regardless of context.

"It is important to note that these remarks were attributable to a small handful of people. While it is of concern that they felt able to speak as they did, I note that two of the three no longer work for the company and I am satisfied that GSL has taken appropriate action. This and the thoroughness of their investigation and my own will have served to reinforce the point that racism in any form is unacceptable.

"I have found no evidence to support Mr Sommerlad’s assertion that staff had an unwonted enthusiasm for control and restraint or were violent towards detainees."

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29 April 2004: Public Inquiry into the Murder of Zahid Mubarek

Home Secretary David Blunkett has announced a public enquiry into the murder of Zahid Mubarek at Feltham Young Offender Institution. The inquiry will be a non-statutory inquiry. While a statutory inquiry would have the power to compel witnesses to attend and give evidence, or face contempt of court proceedings, there is no power under the Prisons Act for the Home Secretary to set up a statutory inquiry. Civil servants would be expected to co-operate with a non-statutory inquiry under their implied contractual terms and the Civil Service Code. That includes answering all questions and giving a full and truthful account. There is no real difference in cost, time or scale between a statutory and non-statutory inquiry.

Mr Blunkett stated:

"I am today announcing that, in line with the House of Lords judgement on 16 October 2003, I have established a public inquiry into the murder of Zahid Mubarek at Feltham Young Offender Institution in March 2000. The Honourable Mr Justice Keith will chair the inquiry; he will be assisted by three expert advisors who will provide advice and support to the inquiry on matters relating to race, prison operations and issues affecting prisoners. The inquiry will start immediately with the following terms of reference:"

"In the light of the House of Lords judgement in the case of Regina v. Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Amin, to investigate and report to the Home Secretary on the death of Zahid Mubarek, and the events leading up to the attack on him, and make recommendations about the prevention of such attacks in the future, taking into account the investigations that have already taken place - in particular, those by the Prison Service and the Commission for Racial Equality."

A report of the inquiry, subject to matters of confidentiality, will be published."

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April 1, 2004:Women Receive Rough Justice From ‘Man-Made’ System

The Fawcett Society’s Commission on Women and the Criminal Justice System has launched its report, which finds that women victims, offenders and workers receive rough justice from a ‘man-made’ system. Women are failed by a criminal justice system designed principally by men, and remains principally for men.

The report is the result of the year-long Commission into women’s experience of the criminal justice system, the first of its kind internationally to look at women’s experience right across the system. The Commission is an independent inquiry chaired by Vera Baird QC MP. The Commissioners are senior experts from across the criminal justice system and other areas of public life. The Commissioners’ findings and recommendations based on 400 submissions. The following information is taken from the report, available from Fawcett:

Women victims face a postcode lottery

Conviction rates of rape and domestic violence – crimes experienced in the vast majority by women – are extremely low. The Commission heard:

One woman in four experiences domestic violence at some point in her life, and 30% of domestic violence cases start or escalate during pregnancy.
Domestic violence accounts for a quarter of all crime, and yet only 5% of recorded cases of domestic violence end in conviction.
Less than 20% of rapes and sexual assaults are reported to the police, and less than 6% of rapes result in conviction.

The Commission highlighted the continuing lottery of services facing rape victims. It calls for a Sexual Assault Referral Centre to be established in every police area and for specialist police officers to be made available to all victims of rape.

Women offenders are shoe-horned into a man-made system

Sentences are getting harsher and the number of women in prison has risen dramatically – at a much faster rate than imprisonment of men – even though there has been no equivalent rise in female offending.

Overwhelming evidence presented to the Commission highlighted that prison is rarely the solution for the complex issues faced by women offenders. As a minority population, women are being shoe-horned into a system that is not designed for their needs. Recent government figures show:

There are now over 4,500 women in prison, up by 194% in the last ten years.
Suicides in women’s prisons have increased from one in 1993 to 14 in 2003.
Most women are convicted of non-violent offences, such as shoplifting; and 70% of women in prison are on sentences of less than 12 months.

Many Commissioners questioned whether women posing no serious threat to others should be imprisoned at all. The Commission calls for an urgent review of the alternatives to prison that could be used for women offenders.

Women workers face a glass ceiling in the criminal justice system

Women are poorly represented in top jobs across the system. This means decisions and policies are ‘man-made’. Exclusion of women from the most powerful positions undermines the credibility of the system. Statistics show that there are:

One woman out of 12 judges in the House of Lords
Five women out of 43 police Chief Constables
18 women out of 42 Chief Officers of Probation
Seven women out of 42 Chief Crown Prosecutors
31 women out of 138 Prison Governors

Commissioners also heard evidence of sexual harassment and discrimination experienced by women working in the system.Commissioners find that the single most effective way of redressing the poor experiences of women in the system would be to introduce a law which obliges public bodies to promote sex equality.

Commission Chair Vera Baird QC MP said:

“When we look across the criminal justice system, the figures really begin to stack up. As the Commission’s report today shows, only 6% of reported rapes end in conviction, there has been a 194% increase in the female prison population over the past 10 years and there are just 11 women among 156 of the most senior judges. This suggests that women experience systematic disadvantage right across the criminal justice system.”

The importance of the report was underlined by Solicitor General Harriet Harman QC MP, who commented that:

“The Commission’s work has made an invaluable contribution to the question of women’s involvement in the criminal justice system. It reminds us of longstanding concerns, makes new arguments and makes proposals which are worthy of serious consideration.”

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The following Crimlinks news archives are available:

Crimlinks News Archive 13: October-November 2005

Crimlinks News Archive 12: August-September 2005

Crimlinks News Archive 11: June-July 2005

Crimlinks News Archive 10: April-May 2005

Crimlinks News Archive 9: March 2005

Crimlinks News Archive 8: February 2005

Crimlinks News Archive 7: January 2005

Crimlinks News Archive 6: December 2004

Crimlinks News Archive 5: November 2004

Crimlinks News Archive 4: October 2004

Crimlinks News Archive 3: August-September 2004

Crimlinks News Archive 2: June-July 2004

Crimlinks News Archive 1: April-May 2004

Crimlinks Complete News Archive