Crime is a Labour issue and it is about to start rising. Crime need not rise, if the government were to act, but it will. In about six months, the headlines will appear. Labour needs to have cemented the idea that the prevention and detection of crime is a progressive priority because, as Jenny Chapman and Jacqui Smith argue in their excellent chapter in The Purple Book, ‘Those with least financial clout and power suffer most from crime and antisocial behaviour … ’
Tackling crime is a social justice issue and is fundamentally a question of liberty. That is why it is welcome to see Chapman and Smith giving such a high priority to compassion for victims and offering such compelling arguments on legally enforceable rights. There is a lot more that can be done. Specialisation in areas such as domestic violence should become the norm. The idea of ‘justice mapping’ is powerful, especially when combined with training for local citizens to hold the system to account.
But, in truth, this is only the start of what needs to be a revolution in fighting crime. The overall level of crime could be reduced significantly if we held the system to account more effectively.
It makes sense to start from where we are. Labour will inherit elected police commissioners and, although I am not sure how workable it would be to create elected commissioners at a sub-police force level (as the authors suggest), it is true that commissioners could be too distant from the public. Labour will need to ensure that commissioners concentrate on wards with the highest crime and not simply those areas which serve their electoral interests. Powerful financial rewards for commissioners should replace targets to ensure that this happens.
Sharper accountability will get us so far but we also need a prevention revolution. Here, we can learn the lessons from our NHS reforms where we understood the importance of a major shift towards prevention. The coalition has adopted some sensible reforms involving the private and third sectors to support people leaving prison. Rather than criticise them, we need to go further.
This would take us all the way back to the root causes of individual criminality. A review of the prison population makes for tragic reading. The prison population is made up of men who were previously in care, men with multiple disadvantages and men with a criminal family history. The female prisoners often have a history of abuse. There is no reason why we cannot identify and support people likely to end up in prison, just as we do with people who are at risk of ill health.*
The state should commission these services but it ought to harness the skills and energy of the private and third sectors, paying them for success. Steve Reed and Paul Brant’s example of Mimi, the single mum and pastor who helps to keep kids out of gangs, shows that those closest to problems can know better than professionals.
Jenny Chapman and Jacqui Smith have shown that sensible criminal justice policies are alive and well in the Labour party. I have tried to build on their ideas by arguing for much sharper accountability and a prevention revolution. New Labour was ‘tough on crime’ but we did not do enough on the ‘causes of crime’. Next time around, we can be both.
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Kieran Brett was special adviser to the prime minister on home affairs, 2005-2007 and special adviser to the secretary of state for health, 2009-2010.
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* See Prison Reform Trust: Bromley Briefings 2011
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