24/04/2012 13:55:00
The Health Secretary Andrew Lansley and the Justice Minister Crispin Blunt have outlined the progress made towards diverting people with mental health needs from the justice system into treatment and care at a Westminster reception on 23 April.
The ministers detailed steps taken towards the creation of a national liaison and diversion service for vulnerable offenders by 2014, backed by Department of Health investment of £50 million towards its development and evaluation.
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24/11/2011 14:39:00
The coalition Government has abandoned plans to axe the Youth Justice Board, justice minister Lord McNally announced on 23 November 2011.The U-turn comes after Justice Secretary Ken Clarke announced that his department would not go ahead with plans to abolish the role of chief coroner.
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The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill presents an opportunity to get to grips with a distorted, often ineffective, system which places too much store on what imprisonment can achieve.
With government amendments to reform indeterminate sentences of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPPs), the Bill contains many important features of the Green Paper. It has, however, lost some of its clarity of purpose. PRT published a briefing for the House of Lords second reading which propose amendments to strengthen the Bill and help create a fairer and more effective justice system.
A copy of the briefing can be viewed by clicking this link.
You can also download Prison Reform Trust's detailed response to the justice green paper by clicking this link
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21/10/2011 12:18:00
Too many vulnerable women are unnecessarily sent to the UK’s prisons for non-violent offences, while local women’s centres – which have had better results in reducing offending – face an uncertain future. We are calling on our supporters to help put this right.
Click here for more information and to email your MP.
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15/09/2011 07:17:00
ICM survey results offer massive vote of support for community payback and restorative justice.
The results of an ICM telephone poll of 1,000 members of the public, conducted one month after the riots in England, show overwhelming popular support for constructive ways in which offenders can make amends to victims for the harm they have caused.
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The Ministry of Justice today announced a new record number of people held in prisons in England and Wales.
Read the response of Geoff Dobson, Deputy Director Prison Reform Trust, here.
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14/07/2011 11:43:00
The number of children imprisoned in England and Wales has fallen from about 3000 in the first half of 2008 to around 2000 three years later. This significant fall has happened in parallel with a rise in the adult prison population, and despite any major legislative changes. The reduction in youth custody has occurred without an increase in youth crime. In Last resort? Exploring the reduction in child imprisonment 2008-11 Rob Allen analyses why this has happened.
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13/07/2011 16:26:00
The government announced today its plans to close two prisons and put the management of nine prisons out to tender in the autumn. You can read Prison Reform Trust's response to these announcements here.
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29/06/2011 00:01:00
Community penalties are now outperforming short prison sentences, according to statistics released today from the latest edition of the Prison Reform Trust’s Bromley Briefings Prison Factfile. If government succeeds in reforming the justice system, building on the success of community measures including diversion into health treatment where appropriate, and holding prison numbers to an unavoidable minimum, it could deliver on its promise of a “rehabilitation revolution”.
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06/06/2011 00:01:00
Effective community sentences that command the confidence of the courts should cut women’s offending, reduce the women’s prison population and save the public purse, according to a report launched today by the independent Women’s Justice Taskforce.
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