The riots – the result of a broken penal system?
Ken Clarke’s comment piece in The Guardian on Tuesday caused a storm of protest over his unfortunate use of “feral underclass” and “criminal classes” to describe the rioters. Beyond the debate on the semantics, his article underlined the justice secretary’s analysis of the need for reform in criminal justice and beyond.
Highlighting the fact that “close to three quarters of those over 18” charged in the aftermath of the riots had prior convictions, Clarke concluded that the criminal justice system had failed in its duty to prevent people from reoffending. It is, he said, “the legacy of a broken penal system – one whose record in preventing reoffending has been straightforwardly dreadful”.
Of course, not everyone agrees the system is broken. Replying in the Guardian’s letters pages yesterday, Phil Wheatley defended his own record as the former head of NOMS, pointing to the progress that was made in reducing reoffending rates between 2000 and 2009.
But I am sure Wheatley would concur with Clarke’s main point, that “punishment alone is not enough” and that “locking people up without reducing the risk of them committing new crimes against new victims” when they get out does not “make for intelligent sentencing”.
Clarke had support on this view from London Mayor Boris Johnson, who gave evidence this week to the home affairs committee. Johnson said that the huge number of people jailed after the riots cannot be abandoned in prison and must be helped to turn their lives around.
Writing of his own plans for reform, Clarke promised to focus the penal system on reducing reoffending by cracking down on drug-use, introducing “productive hard work” in prisons and toughening community sentences. His most “radical” new reform is for payment by results for the organisations that reduce reoffending.
However, Clarke also said that reform cannot be confined to the penal system alone. “The recipe for a productive member of society is no secret […] it’s about having a job, a strong family, a decent education and […] an attitude that shares in the values of mainstream society”, he said. Thus reform and progress will be needed in education, welfare, family and economic policy.
Clarke ends by stressing the need to address the issue of “problematic” families rather than “leaving them in touch with, but untouched by, dozens of different agencies”. A point which, as we often point out, applies as much to adults with multiple needs as it does to families.
The debate over the causes of the riots and how to prevent further outbursts of disorder will continue for some time. Hearing directly from those involved provides some insight into the complex forces that drove the initial rioting before looting became the apparent primary objective. As part of their analysis the Guardian has posted this video with a personal view of someone who took part. He describes how the experience of aggressive policing, grinding poverty, unemployment and broken families made people “rebellious” and willing to hit back through riots.
Political leaders will do well to listen to these voices as well as the victims of the disorder.
But the focus on the riots will inevitably fade and ministers will turn their attention back to tackling more run-of-the-mill reoffending that rarely makes it onto the 24-hour news channels. We will continue to make the case to them that to make real progress they should focus on the insight, mentioned in Breaking the Cycle but subsequently dropped from its response to the consultation, that “a significant proportion of crime is committed by offenders who have multiple problems”.
The solution, as we set out in our response to the green paper, lies in providing coordinated services within the community that can address offenders multiple, interlocking problems. Criminal justice agencies must link to these services but cannot and should not try to be a substitute for them. Clarke must now press for his colleagues across government to play their part in delivering this change across the country, a message we will take to parliament when we launch our new vision paper for multiple needs and exclusions next week.
