The coalition government announced the next steps in its 'rehabilitation revolution'. It said that short-sentence offenders released from prison would be 'met at the gates' by a dedicated mentor who would help them 'turn their back on crime for good'. Payment-by-results methods would be applied to the vast majority of rehabilitation work by 2015, so that the public would only pay for projects that were successful in reducing reoffending.
Source: Speech by Chris Grayling MP (Lord Chancellor/Secretary of State for Justice), 20 November 2012
Links: Speech | Addaction press release | APF press release | Catch22 press release | Full Fact comment | Labour Party press release | NAPO press release | St Mungos press release | Turning Point press release | UCU press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Nov
A study examined the effect of housing on re-offending. It found an evidential link between housing, ongoing support, and a reduction in re-offending. For those housed, there was: an 11 per cent reduction in re-offending overall; a 16 per cent reduction in re-offending for those aged under 35; a 21 per cent reduction in re-offending for more serious offences; and a 26 per cent reduction in re-offending rates for women.
Source: Mark Ellison, Chris Fox, Adrian Gains, and Gary Pollock, First Home, Second Chance: An evaluation into the effects of housing on re-offending, Interserve/Vision Housing
Links: Report | Vision Housing press release
Date: 2012-Nov
The Prime Minister said that the debate on crime and punishment had become too polarized between the aims of retribution and rehabilitation. He said that serious offenders needed to be imprisoned, but that jails needed to have a 'positive impact' on inmates. He reaffirmed his support for a 'rehabilitation revolution' for prisoners. At the same time the Secretary of State for Justice announced an expanded role for private firms and charities in rehabilitation work with offenders, based on the model of payments by results – although a pilot scheme had yet to be evaluated.
Source: Speech by David Cameron MP (Prime Minister), 22 October 2012
Links: Speech | Video link | CAF press release | Catch22 press release | CBI press release | MJW press release | Turning Point press release | UCU press release | Victim Support press release | Young Foundation press release | BBC report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Guardian report (3) | Telegraph report (1) | Telegraph report (2)
Date: 2012-Oct
A report said that enabling prisoners to take responsibility for their own resettlement was key to helping them address the challenges that they would face on release and reduce their risk of reoffending. Prisoners interviewed as part of the study advocated a new set of priorities for resettlement work while in prison. These included: an individual approach to each prisoner; provision of information that prisoners needed to make reasoned decisions; enhanced communication with the outside; extended use of release on temporary licence; training focused on employability skills; and improved contact with family, and involvement of families in preparation for release.
Source: Kimmett Edgar, Andreas Aresti, and Neil Cornish, Out for Good: Taking responsibility for resettlement, Prison Reform Trust
Date: 2012-Sep
A joint inspectorate said that many prisons in England paid good attention to the resettlement needs of prisoners. But the work needed to address and change offenders' attitudes and behaviour was not happening to any meaningful extent. Some prisoners, notably sex offenders, were not always able to access the treatment programmes they needed.
Source: Second Aggregate Report on Offender Management in Prisons, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales/HM Chief Inspector of Probation
Links: Report | Inspectorate press release | Labour Party press release | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Jul
An article examined prisoner resettlement in England and Wales. The term 'resettlement' attracted many key assumptions, and societal expectations of what could be achieved might be ideationally and conceptually flawed.
Source: Roger Moore, 'Beyond the prison walls: some thoughts on prisoner "resettlement" in England and Wales', Criminology and Criminal Justice, Volume 12 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Apr
A briefing paper provided a short introduction to the research evidence about the process of desistance from crime.
Source: Fergus McNeill, Stephen Farrall, Claire Lightowler, and Shadd Maruna, How and Why People Stop Offending: Discovering Desistance, Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Apr
A report summarized findings from an evaluation of an initiative to support voluntary and community sector involvement in integrated offender management.
Source: Kevin Wong, Caroline O Keeffe, Linda Meadows, Joanna Davidson, Hayden Bird, Katherine Wilkinson, and Paul Senior, Increasing the Voluntary and Community Sector's Involvement in Integrated Offender Management, Research Report 59, Home Office
Date: 2012-Mar
A study compared the differences in the conviction rates of known offenders during the two years before their initial assessment for drug treatment and the two years after. Those retained in treatment for the entire two-year period showed an average 47 per cent reduction in convictions.
Source: The Impact of Drug Treatment on Reconviction, National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse
Links: Report | NTA press release
Date: 2012-Mar
Researchers undertook a qualitative study of offender employment services, with a specific focus on the progress made in implementing the recommendations of a joint review carried out in 2009. The coalition government announced that everyone leaving prison and claiming jobseeker's allowance would be immediately referred to the Work Programme. Providers would receive a fee of £5,600 if they succeeded in placing a former offender into work, and helped them stay in employment for over two years.
Source: Del Roy Fletcher, John Flint, Tony Gore, Ryan Powell, Elaine Batty, and Richard Crisp, Qualitative Study of Offender Employment Review: Final Report, Research Report 784, Department for Work and Pensions | Press release 6 March 2012, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release | CMH press release | Nacro press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2012-Mar
A paper said that ex-offenders faced significant barriers to securing accommodation. Local authorities often posed a barrier to prisoner resettlement, despite the intention of local homelessness strategies. Stronger relationships were needed between prisons, housing advice agencies, and local authorities.
Source: Dina Gojkovic, Alice Mills, and Rosie Meek, Accommodation for Ex-Offenders: Third sector housing advice and provision, Working Paper 77, Third Sector Research Centre
Links: Paper | Abstract | TSRC press release | Southampton University press release
Date: 2012-Mar
The coalition government announced (in the form of amendments to its own Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill) plans to significantly shorten the period during which offenders were obliged to tell potential employers about previous convictions. For medium-term prisoners the time would be reduced from 10 years to 4; and for short-term prisoners (serving sentences up to 6 months) from 7 years to 2. But the period after which a conviction was spent would be counted from the day an offender completed their sentence rather than from the date of their conviction.
Source: Press release 3 February 2012, Ministry of Justice
Links: MOJ press release | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Feb