Criminal justice - doing it better with less
In his first speech on criminal justice since taking office, justice secretary Ken Clarke yesterday laid out his plans for the reform of the courts, legal aid and sentencing.
First, he addressed proposals announced last week to close almost a third of the country’s courts, explore alternative methods of dispute resolution, and use technology to avoid people having to attend court for routine matters.
The driver for this is not to improve access to justice or outcomes, but ‘financial reality’ – it’s cheaper.
On legal aid, Clarke confirmed that the government will be looking to cut eligibility and fees, candidly admitting ‘we cannot…afford the system we’ve got’, where £38 per person per year is spent on legal aid.
He wants to see greater use of mediation in family disputes, and the Ministry of Justice has launched a review looking at how the family justice system can provide a better service for less money.
Prisons, says Clarke, are costly and ineffectual, so he wants to find ways to reduce the future prison population and cut reoffending.
The government’s ‘rehabilitation revolution’ envisages: prisons that are places of punishment; education; hard work and change; and rigorously enforced community sentences that punish offenders but also get them off drugs and into work (what work? You might ask, but that’s a different debate).
Part of the government’s policy will be to get independent organisations involved in reducing re-offending, and paying them to keep offenders away from crime.
Announcing a review of sentencing policy to introduce minimum and maximum sentences, and improve the effectiveness of community penalties, Clarke called for ‘more intelligent sentencing’ that will seek to give ‘better value for money’.
However he warned: ‘I certainly cannot promise that we will be investing vast amounts of money in non-custodial sentences.’
Despite Clarke’s rhetoric about going back to first principles – punishing offenders, protecting the public and providing access to justice – the golden thread running through the speech was the pressing need to save money. As we know, nearly every government department is expected to have to cut its budgets by around a quarter – an unprecedented amount.
With the constant references to cost-savings, Clarke’s speech did appear a recipe for justice on a shoestring, with the government deluding itself into thinking it can ‘spend less and do things better at the same time’.
Clarke reassured listeners: ‘Spending less must not mean damaging criminal justice and if we are sophisticated and intelligent in what we do we will not cause harm.’
Sophisticated and intelligent, the MoJ? We shall see.
Comments
So far none of the MoJs
So far none of the MoJs reforms of legal aid or of the Justice systems could be described as sophisticated or intelligent. So why should we believe that under the Coalition Govt things will be better?
all talk and no trouser pockets
In these days of political spin, I can't recall which party said 'tough on crime, tough on causes of crime'. No government is tackling one of the primary causes of crime - inequality in society.
With a budget and promised cuts which will widen the inequality gap leaving a lot of people disaffected and with a sense of hopelessness, crime will grow. More drinking, more drug-taking, more muggings, more theft, more vandalism, more broken relationships. Indeed how long before there's bloodshed on our streets?
I've seen no sophistication and intelligence in what the coaltion has done yet, so I'm not holding my breath.
Any offending newcomers
Any offending newcomers should be sent back to country of origin, lounging in jail getting clothed and fed, is all they come to our country for they are not interested in anything else this country has to offer, that is why so many of them re-offend life time in jail will do them fine thank you very much
A time for entrepeneurs
Well all I can say is that for those of us who can come up with fantastic ideas, then there will be a niche to create organisations to keep offenders out of jail and stop them from re-offending. It sounds like money in the bank to me. The govenment appears to think that the probation services is an utter joke, which is what I have known for years. In relation to prisons, the fact of the matter is that tax-payers should not be paying to house and feed those who harm members of the public. Prisoners should pay their own way in prison, that means sending them out to farm their own food, and getting to work in prison to pay for their accomodation, and use of other facilities. The clear truth is that some offenders love prison more than being out in the real world. The reason why a lot of people have adopted this mentality is that prison life has caught up with real life. Unfortunate but true.
As for Kenneth Clarke's new measures, well it's the same old clap trap I've heard from the previous government administration. Criminal practitioners will still be in business, because no one cares anymore, people in this country are fed up, and are commiting crime as a means to get by, for example drug dealing, cannabis growing, prostitution, fraud you name it. With the current rates for legal aid you won't get rich but you will still remain in business, you just have to be smart about it. Less overheads, and down size, in order to see a profit margin.
A time for entrepeneurs
Well all I can say is that for those of us who can come up with fantastic ideas, then there will be a niche to create organisations to keep offenders out of jail and stop them from re-offending. It sounds like money in the bank to me. The govenment appears to think that the probation services is an utter joke, which is what I have known for years. In relation to prisons, the fact of the matter is that tax-payers should not be paying to house and feed those who harm members of the public. Prisoners should pay their own way in prison, that means sending them out to farm their own food, and getting to work in prison to pay for their accomodation, and use of other facilities. The clear truth is that some offenders love prison more than being out in the real world. The reason why a lot of people have adopted this mentality is that prison life has caught up with real life. Unfortunate but true.
As for Kenneth Clarke's new measures, well it's the same old clap trap I've heard from the previous government administration. Criminal practitioners will still be in business, because no one cares anymore, people in this country are fed up, and are commiting crime as a means to get by, for example drug dealing, cannabis growing, prostitution, fraud you name it. With the current rates for legal aid you won't get rich but you will still remain in business, you just have to be smart about it. Less overheads, and down size, in order to see a profit margin.
entrepeneurs
The latest LSC criminal contract is blatant engineering of the provider business model towards economies of scale. The tragedy is this is a one hit wonder whose savings are overstated and drop in quality understated.
The LSC would get better results by concentrating on setting a price and removing costly conditions and obligations from the contract. Consumer choice and Darwnian innovation will do the rest to ensure an adequate supply of high quality and solvent legal aid providers.
New technology and the internet are creating new highly cost effective business models for legal aid providers which go way beyond simplistic virtual firms, together with new business' to service these models. The potential savings for the LSC over the next 5 years are enormous.
The LSC should stop taking advice from parties with a vested interest and concentrate on lowering the costs it imposes on firms and the price it pays.
The Rule of Law
The Rule of Law the binding force in any \Society. The Americans did not understand this when they invaded Iraq. Anyone who was a member of the Baath was fired. Well that was the whole system. Everyone was a member of the Party. You had to be to get a job.
So Iraq descended into hell, and it's still there. America is very good at destroying and not very good at, well anything really. So stupid.
Justice at the moment is failing in this country and any cuts will push it over the edge into ineffectiveness, and that will lead to anarchy. And once a system is broken its very difficult and very expensive and repressive to regain control.
Jolly old Ken Clarke with his Hush Puppies and Jazz coming out of his earphones. Well at least he'll give us a laugh as we descend into chaos,
I remain
etc etc