The last Labour government achieved something that no other government since the second world war had managed – leaving office with crime lower than when we came to power. There were several reasons why crime fell by 43 per cent on our watch, but they were all underpinned by an approach that was tough on crime and tough on its causes. This record is something I am proud of and as we develop our programme for government ahead of the next election it is a legacy I seek to build on.
I grew up on a council estate in London and I know first-hand that criminals and their victims often live side by side, that prison sentences for offenders can provide valuable respite for communities and that addressing the problem of repeat offending is part of the solution to bringing down crime.
Tackling crime and antisocial behaviour will always be a priority for Labour. But when a crime is committed and a person enters the criminal justice system, what is the best passage for them through the system and the best way to stop them reoffending? How do we ensure justice is served and victims are supported and protected? And how do we manage the prison estate which this government seems happy to leave to decline?
I am leading a working group of experts from across the criminal justice field to help answer these questions and formulate a policy programme that strikes the right balance between punishment and reform and works to protect the public and stop crime.
Advising the working group in an independent and unaffiliated capacity are: Barry Mizen, who set up the Jimmy Mizen Foundation with his wife, Margaret, following the murder of their son in 2008; Dame Helen Reeves, the founding chief executive of Victim Support; Matthew Ryder QC, a barrister and judge specialising in criminal and police law; Baroness Jean Corston, who carried out a seminal review of vulnerable women in the criminal justice system; Professor Rob Reiner, a professor of criminology in the law department of the London School of Economics; Lord Norman Warner, former health minister and former chair of the Youth Justice Board; and Kevin McGrath, managing director of F&C REIT Asset Management and chair of the McGrath Charitable Trust and trustee for several criminal justice organisations. The vice chair of the group will be shadow justice minister, Helen Goodman MP.
I will be drawing on the vast and diverse experience and expertise of this panel to shape criminal justice policy. We will also be consulting with practitioners working across the field, meeting victims and communities blighted by crime and antisocial behaviour, holding public seminars and encouraging ideas and submissions from individuals and organisations engaged in all aspects of this policy area. It will be crucially important that the public are involved in this process, and I am determined that their priorities are reflected in our policies. Over the next 18 months we aim to develop a policy platform to meet the challenges we face in effective criminal justice. I look forward to Progress members getting involved, and they can do so by visiting www.justicereview.org.uk
I do hope the panel are able to work and come forward with what needs doing which is completely different to what the political elite thinks needs doing. Your wrong to make the claim that crime went down it didn’t what happened was reported crime went down. While we introduced many tools the simple fact is that in far to many cases they were and are not being used in full if at all. The problem with that is you get the Teresa May approach of scrap the lot when the response should have been to find out why things aren’t working and deal with the reasons why they aren’t working. Mrs May will make suggestions but they will also fail for the same reasons the ‘ours’ failed and it just results in more victims.