Homicide rates increase and are back up to pre-pandemic levels

Homicide returned to pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic levels, with 696 victims in the latest year; this is 130 more (a 23% increase) than the year ending March 2021 when government restrictions meant there was less social contact. The homicide rate was 11.7 per million population, with the rate for males (16.9… The Office for National Statistics has today published its annual statistics on homicides in England and Wales which covers the period up to the end of March 2022....

Racial disparity in decisions to prosecute

We have known for many years that there is an over-representation of ethnic minorities within the criminal justice system with much of the evidence contained in the 2017 Review undertaken by David Lammy MP. The review noted the greatest disparities appeared at the point of stop and search, custodial remands… The Crown Prosecution Service has today published research which has found that Black and minority ethnic defendants are significantly more likely to be charged for a comparable offence than white British defendants in England and Wales....

Updated Probation workforce strategy: filling the gaps

The strategy sets out HMPPS’ ambition for a “more positive, inclusive, and diverse” probation workforce and the steps to be taken to achieve this. Since the strategy was first published, the government’s Transforming Rehabilitation privatisation project has been reversed and the Probation Service has been re-unified. This move (which was… Given the probation service’s chronic staffing problems, it’s not surprising that His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service has today published an updated workforce strategy covering the next three years....

Vulnerable women held in “appalling conditions”

Today’s inspection report into the Eastwood Park prison/young offender institution for women makes for horrific reading. Charlie Taylor, Chief Inspector of Prisons, was blunt in his summary of the report: “Some of the most vulnerable women across the prison estate were held in an environment wholly unsuitable for their therapeutic… Inspectors gave Eastwood Park prison the lowest rating for safety which is very unusual for a women’s establishment....

Delivering the female offender strategy

The Ministry of Justice has today published its Female Offender Strategy Delivery Plan 2022 to 2025, four and a half years since the strategy itself was published. Many commentators will feel that the publication of a plan which covers 2022 in January 2023 typifies the MoJ’s slow progress on implementation… The Delivery Plan sets out how Government will deliver four key priorities to reduce women’s offending over the period of the 2022–25 Spending Review...

What are the factors associated with young people being sent to prison?

Interesting new research published by the Office for National Statistics last week found that going to a lower-quality school, as rated by Ofsted, is one of the many factors linked with a higher likelihood of someone being imprisoned. The research  The study uses Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and Department for… The majority of people given an immediate prison sentence before the age of 24 had been convicted or cautioned for an offence before the age of 16....

The support needs of adult victim-survivors of sexual violence

In 2021, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) made a commitment in the Rape Review Action Plan to conduct “targeted research with rape victims to better understand their experiences and what they want from support services so that future provision meets need”. To meet this commitment and to fully inform the… The MoJ has published the findings of research into the needs of RASSO victims ...

Good news on youth justice

A number of positive long-term trends continue; the two most important being: the number of children entering the justice system for the first time reached another all-time low, of just over 8,000 children the number of children in custody was, on average, 450 – the lowest figure on record Reoffending… Today’s publication of the annual youth justice statistics (for 2021/22) provide, in the words of Keith Fraser, Chair of the Youth Justice Board (YJB), “ a glimmer of hope”....

What’s gone wrong with prison education?

Every time they inspect a prison, inspectors assess its progress against four areas – safety, respect, purposeful activity and rehabilitation and release planning – and award a score: four for good; three for reasonably good; two for not sufficiently good; and one for poor. Purposeful activity has consistently been the… The latest blog by the Chief Prison Inspector Charlie Taylor focuses on the decline of prison education. ...

Probation staff 'forgetting' to do police checks due to high caseloads

Probation staff have caseloads "so big" that they often forget to undertake standard police checks while assessing offenders, hugely affecting how effectively risk can be detected. Following recent serious further offence reviews (SFOs) for quadruple murderer Damien Bendall and Jordan McSweeney, Justin Russell told Sky News that risk assessment is “the weakest area… Following the damning SFO review of Jordan McSweeney, HM Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell has said that police aren't always being consulted about domestic abuse risks....