Prisons: Fulfilling Ill-Informed Public Demand?
*This blog was written in November 2019.*
A recent article in The Independent has highlighted a significant decrease in prosecutions for criminal offences in England and Wales despite an increase in the commission of criminal offences. Its title, ‘Number of people punished for crimes hits record low as offences rise in England and Wales’, assumes punishment and retribution are the overbearing factors when considering sentencing.
A recent article in The Independent has highlighted a significant decrease in prosecutions for criminal offences in England and Wales despite an increase in the commission of criminal offences. Its title, ‘Number of people punished for crimes hits record low as offences rise in England and Wales’, assumes punishment and retribution are the overbearing factors when considering sentencing.
Such a title is reflective of the punitive and vindictive attitude which exists throughout England and Wales with regard to the commission of a crime and how such crimes should be condemned. And with the ‘ever-growing’ rise in criminal activity (an increase of 8 per cent), yet a 2 per cent decrease in prosecution and conviction, the existence of a plea for ‘harsher’ sentencing comes as no surprise – particularly for violent and sexual crimes.
But how well-informed are these statistics? Politicians maintain that there exists an increase in the number of criminal offences committed, instilling a sense of fear throughout the public, notwithstanding evidence which suggests that the level have crime has significantly reduced over the last few decades. Subsequently, the means for crime-reducing manifestos are simply designed for scaremongering in a bid to obtain public support.
As a consequence, Public Criminology has long argued that it is necessary to narrow the gap between public perception and scientific evidence with regard to public concern of crime. But where is the access to high-quality information in order to adequately inform the public of the existence of crime and its relationship with sentencing?
Whilst Metropolitan Police commissioner, Cressida Dick, admits that detection rates of some offences are “woefully low”, the Ministry of Justice has made a bid to invest in prison places in an attempt to restore public confidence. Boris Johnson, recently appointed PM, has similarly suggested the implementation of 10,000 prison places. But just how will these places fill? Will it be the result of unnecessarily retributive and punitive sentencing? And most importantly, is prison the most appropriate sentence for violent and sexual offenders?
Research has suggested that sexual offenders respond more effectively to means of rehabilitative measures, such as polygraph testing, in order to encourage them to be honest about their offences and feelings. Other research has also demonstrated that recidivism is less likely amongst those offenders whom have been able to reintegrate back into society through rehabilitative and restorative measures. Whilst it is necessary that violent and sexual offenders are incarcerated for means of public protection, evidence has highlighted that punitive attitudes towards such offenders only in fact increases the likelihood of re-offending.
Has society become so punitive that it possesses a possibility of encouraging said crime that is fears? Or is this at the hands of scaremongering politicians and practitioners whose ill-informed manifesto suggests an ulterior truth to that published by academics?
