A majority verdict on St Giles Trust?

During the past few weeks, I’ve had a quote from author Mark Twain going round my head: “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”  Two years ago if you asked me about the chances of St Giles Trust’s aims and philosophies being part of majority thinking in Government, I would have been pretty downbeat.  However, the time for reflection Twain recommends might now be round the corner as the way of St Giles Trust is increasingly getting taken on board by the Government.

For example, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one in criminal justice who was very encouraged by the recent claims by Justice Secretary Ken Clark on the futility of short-term prison sentences and a willingness to explore alternatives to custody such as community sentences.  At last, a victory for common sense! A minister pragmatically and publicly recognising that our current, costly way of locking up people for low-level, repeat offences flies in the face of logic.

This comes on the back of other recent welcome developments, including our involvement in the new Social Impact Bond funding arrangements under the Peterborough Prison project.  This is an exciting, creative new way of funding the vital work done in the charity sector at a time when public funds are scarce yet demand for our services remains incredibly high.

We welcome the Government’s commitment to involving the innovation and creativity of charities in solving some of society’s most difficult problems.  Nick Herbert, Minister for Policing and Justice, said in a recent speech to the Policy Exchange: “We should be excited by the potential for unlocking the expertise of organisations, especially in the voluntary sector, which know how to work with offenders to get them back on the straight and narrow.” 

Now for the reflective bit. The Government may still have a tough time persuading the general public (or perhaps more specifically some areas of the media purporting to speak for them) that shorter sentences, increased investment in rehabilitation and services that support ex-offenders is the way forward to reduce crime and the terrible financial and human costs it brings. I would once again – apologies to those who have heard this many times from us already - like to highlight the facts that support this. An independent economic analysis into our Through the Gates support for prison leavers found that the service reduced re-offending by 40% and saved the taxpayer £10 for every £1 invested into the service (download it here).  These are facts and ones that shouldn’t be ignored.

As the recent report from New Philanthropy Capital Scaling Up for the Big Society highlights, our work can be extended and if it is, there is a hugely exciting opportunity to drastically reduce crime across the country. However, the new Government must be bold and stand its ground in what will undoubtedly be opposition to what some will see as a soft option for criminals, with a desire to lock them up and throw away the key still abounding and calls for more prison building still being made.

Apart from a very small number of prisoners who are never going to be fit for release, there is an opportunity to turn around many lives and ensure there are fewer victims.   The new Government may have had a Twain moment and reflected on the majority view, considering whether the same way of doing things over and over again is really effective.  Or they might simply have recognised that in pure economic terms the increased use of custody and prison expansion is not sustainable. Either way, they must stand their ground in bringing in fresh thinking and actions. They will have the last word over any critics if results such as the 10 to 1 return to the public purse I refer to above emerge across the country at a time when the need to cut back and make savings is acute.