What progress has been made within the U.K. Criminal Justice System since World War Two?

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1 What progress has been made within the U.K. Criminal Justice System since World War Two? There is no doubt that change needs to be made in the prisons in the United Kingdom. Statistics alone are enough to explain this. However, there is hope for the future. By looking at the past and uncovering the decisions made by politicians over time, we can develop a deeper understanding of how we may have come to this stage and what we can do to move forward in the future. This essay will try to find out and understand the changes made to the Criminal Justice System since World War Two and whether these changes contributed to positive progress or slowed down the countries growth in this area. After World War Two, a Labour Government was elected, led by Clement Attlee. He introduced the Criminal Justice Act of , which included some new rehabilitation methods that are still in use today. Corrective training was a scheme that allowed a prisoner to be released on the basis that they don t commit a crime again, otherwise they will be sentenced. Similar to probation, this gives the criminals a second chance to change their lifestyle for the better and get out of a life of crime. Attlee also introduced Detention Centres as a deterrent for offenders under the age of 21, which were much less severe than the previous borstals. The most successful of Attlee s changes was the introduction of Attendance Centres. These were places were young offenders could go on weekends to practise rehabilitation activities with other young people who had committed crimes. This method punishes offenders by taking away their leisure time, but also gives them the opportunity to learn skills (like horticulture and motor vehicle maintenance) which will help them get a job when they finish their time at the Attendance Centres. These Attendance Centres are still in practise today and help young people settle back into a better life by teaching them new skills under a disciplined working environment. Corporal Punishment was also abolished, except for the Prison Board of Visitors 2, which suggests that Attlee was moving away from very old-fashioned methods of punishment that were better suited to the Victorian era. However, these changes, at the time, weren t seen to be that effective because they didn t seem to affect reoffending rates and in reality, few detention centres were actually built 3. Overall, even though the changes made during this time had very good intentions and some of the methods Attlee introduced are still in practise today, not a lot of progress was made because reoffending rates weren t decreased by the decisions implemented. However, the changes he tried to make may have been a little before their time, and the people in the 1950 s, some of whom will have remembered the harsh nature of the Victorian punishment techniques, may not have been ready for it. Arguably, the biggest changes made to the Criminal Justice system over this period of time was made by Harold Wilson, the Labour politician who became Prime Minister in He passed the Criminal Justice Act of which introduced reform in three sections: the prison system and sentencing practices of courts, juvenile offenders and the law on murder. A suspended sentence was introduced which aimed at reducing mandatory prison sentences. Magistrates were encouraged to not give prison sentences to people who have only committed minor offences. This would result in

2 less people going to prison for crimes that could be punishable through a fine or community service, resulting in less strain on prisons and more criminals giving back to their communities. During Wilson s time as Prime Minister, Sydney Silverman was working as a Member of Parliament, representing the constituency of Nelson and Colne. Silverman worked very hard to abolish the death penalty and in 1965, his campaign proved to be successful. 5 The death penalty was abolished which is huge progress in the United Kingdom Criminal Justice System. At first it was only removed as a punishment for murder, with some other offences, such as espionage and high treason still being punishable with capital punishment. The Criminal Justice Act of introduced fully the punishment and rehabilitation method of community service. This again was a huge change under Wilson and it reduced the amount of people going to prison. Community service is also a way of showing criminals that, although they may have had a negative effect on their local community in the past, they now have the chance to make a positive difference and impact on their community. This proved to be very successful and is still being used today. Wilson made huge changes to the Criminal Justice System during his two (non-consecutive) terms as Prime Minister, and the changes that he did make seem to be the most positive and modern over the course of this whole period of time. I believe that no other politician or Prime Minister during this time made such positive changes to the Criminal Justice System as Harold Wilson did. Margaret Thatcher was criticised hugely for the decisions she made throughout her time as the Prime Minister, and the changes she made to the Criminal Justice System was no exception. She vocalised her wants to bring back corporal punishment and hanging 7, which seemed like a step back in history, especially after the liberal changes made under Harold Wilson. Her decision to implement the Police and Criminal Evidence Act in was partly in response to the 1981 Brixton Riots, where a group of people from ethnic minorities felt they were being discriminated against because of their race. Thatcher wanted to introduce an act that restored the people of Britain s faith and trust in the police. Another aim of this act was to give all police officers a clear idea of what was within the law and what wasn t, so both the officers and the public knew what was acceptable. Even though this may seem like an improvement from the seemingly discriminatory nature of the Stop and Search method used by police officers before the act was put in place, crime still rose dramatically in the 1980 s, during Thatcher s time as Prime Minister. On average, 3.5 million crimes were reported during the 1980 s 9. This was mostly due to the huge unemployment rates at that time. People not in employment or without any opportunity to get a job are more likely to commit crimes, because otherwise they may have no other way of getting food or clothing. That is why crimes such as shoplifting and stealing increase during times of high unemployment. Thatcher also made huge cuts on welfare recipients, which meant the people in the country at the time, who weren t earning enough money, didn t have any help to allow them to get back to a normal and happy life, where they could earn money for their families. This, like the unemployment led to more people turning to crime, just because it was the only way they could survive. The changes Thatcher made to the Criminal Justice System during her time as Prime Minister, arguably put the country back several years and practically undid the positive changes that were made under Harold Wilson s Farrall, review Stephen Farrall, review

3 leadership. Even though changes were made, they weren t hugely positive, seen by the increasing crime rates during her time as Prime Minister. During the 1990 s and the start of the 21 st Century, various factors added up which resulted in a huge increase in prisoners, the biggest seen so far in this period. This had a severe effect on the prisons all over the country, most of which were only built to hold a few hundred local prisoners for a small amount of time. They now had to house thousands of prisoners, some of which had life sentences. The first thing that resulted in an increase in prisoners was the release of the first school league table in , listing the schools all over the country based on how good and well run they were. Some head teachers, wanting to get to the top of the table, decided to expel challenging or naughty students who may have been disrupting the lessons or refusing to work. These children now found it very hard to get into other schools or get a job, so ended up having a lot of time of their hands and not a lot of structure in their day. These children inevitably turned to crime, partly out of boredom and also because they felt excluded and unsupported by the school system and society in general. These children, when caught, went to prison. The prison population increased by 91% from the years 1993 to This was due to several factors, the main one to do with the sentenced prisoners. More offenders were being given sentences over these years and for a longer period of time. The parole rate also declined 12, due to more criminals being sent to prison, rather than being sent on parole, even though for minor offences, going on parole and doing community service has been proven to be more successful that going to prison. 13 The recall rate also increased 14, due to a change in the law which made it a lot easier for offenders on parole to be recalled. The changes made resulted in the most extreme increase in prison population during this whole period of time. It seems very clear that no progress was made, and actually the country just got a lot worse because of these changes. Similar to Margaret Thatcher, David Cameron has been highly criticised for the cuts that he has made to most public services in this country, the Criminal Justice System being no exception. His severe austerity measures have meant that a lot less money has been going into prisons and the whole system to try and improve it. Following his Conservative views, he has also decided to try and privatise probation services, giving the power and money over to big corporate companies. However, the decisions David Cameron has made are nowhere near as harsh as his Justice Minister of three years, Chris Grayling. His decision to ban books being sent into prison was hugely controversial when first announced 15, as a lot of people who had been prisoners who have since left have said that reading books whilst serving their time was a huge aspect of their rehabilitation process 16. However, he did try, during his time as Justice Minister to make some changes to cyber bullying and more modern problems that so far politicians hadn t had to deal with, because the internet and smartphones didn t exist. Since 2009, the prison population growth rate has decreased 10 Stephen Farrall, review Alan Travis, The Guardian

4 from 4% to 1% 17, which is clearly a positive thing. However, the London Riots of 2011 had an impact on the prison population, with 900 more people being sent to prison. A lot of the people involved in these riots were giver much longer and harsher sentences for doing crimes that, had they been done away from this event, they wouldn t have received. 18 This event also didn t help the relationship between young men from disadvantaged areas in London and the police, which was already a relationship of mutual lack of respect. Michael Gove was appointed Justice Minister in 2014 at the start of David Cameron s second term and his decision to reform prisons to make them more similar to academy schools is quite encouraging. He also has spoken recently about the problem of overcrowding in prisons and, inspired by prisons in Germany, aims to give one inmate one room each, although this isn t possible at the moment. 19 This is quite encouraging, as overcrowding in prisons is a huge problem in prisons over the country. The changes made during the years that Nick Clegg and David Cameron were in leadership may have reduced the growth rate of prisons slightly, but I think the changes they made over their term, and David Cameron s second term, were quite old fashioned and set back the country a lot. On the 23 rd June 2016, the country voted in a referendum deciding whether to remain in or leave the EU. It completely split the country and much to half the country s anger and despair, the vote resulted in this country leaving. This huge change will affect almost everything in this country, including the Criminal Justice System. Due to a lack of a clear plan from the politicians who were campaigning to leave, a lot of things are very unclear, and very few people know how this change is going to affect the Criminal Justice System. During their campaign, politicians who thought leaving the EU would be a good thing claimed that it would give us more control over our prisons as we wouldn t have to abide by the EU s policies and regulations, we could make our own. However, when we were part of the EU, we were able to send some prisoners to other countries in the EU for their trial, which took the pressure off our own Justice System. The EU Procurement Laws, which we had to abide by before, also helped to minimise corruption, reduce the misallocation of resources and deliver value for money. 20 These things are so important especially because the Justice System is so flawed and inefficient at the moment; we needed all the help we could get from the EU and with David Cameron s plans for privatisation for prisons, big companies in charge need to be kept a close eye on to make sure the Justice System remains fair and just. With the referendum happening so recently, it is very hard to know what the future is going to look like, but it seems that the decision for Brexit will not be positive for the Criminal Justice System and may even affect the rights of prisoners. This is a huge change for this system, but at the moment it is hard to know the long term outcomes of what has happened in this country because of how recently it happened. Various politicians over the course of these years have made changes to the Criminal Justice System, usually guided by their own ideologies and the financial situation of this country at the time. Even though these changes were made, some could argue that these were just minor tweaks in a very flawed system that actually needs a huge amount of reform. The problem may not be the individual Prime Ministers, the problem may be that they usually only have four years to make Oliver Wright, Independent 20

5 changes in this country and that isn t enough time to reform the Criminal Justice System, which is what needs to happen. In some other countries, like Norway, the Justice Minister has complete autonomy over how the prisons and the Criminal Justice System is run, which means someone who has much more knowledge and experience of that area is running it. It is possible for the United Kingdom to do this as well but it requires the Prime Minister giving up all of their power to someone who knows more than them about the Criminal Justice System. Michael Gove has mentioned his interest in foreign prisons and his plans to reform the Criminal Justice System in this country, which is very encouraging. So overall, in the years since the Second World War, not a lot of progress has been made. Reforming a system that has been around for so long, and is clearly so failing and flawed is a hugely intimidating task, especially in a society where politicians are often slated for being too soft on crime, but if other European countries are able to do it, I don t see any reason why we can t follow. to the Graph show prison population in Scotland Graph to show the prison population in England and Wales

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