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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,538
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[UK] Drug-addicted criminals will be spared jail
#13451463 - 11/07/10 11:19 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Drug-addicted criminals will be spared jail November 7, 2010 - telegraph.co.uk
Addicts and people with mental health problems could be “diverted” by the police and courts away from prison and referred for treatment instead, a minister has said.
Officials across Whitehall are working on plans for “alternative” forms of “treatment-based accommodation” for offenders who are mentally ill or addicted to drugs, the Ministry of Justice said.
The plans are likely to prove controversial among Conservative MPs, who think Mr Clarke is trying to take the Coalition away from the party’s traditional policies of imposing tough punishments on offenders.
The justice secretary, who has rejected the “Prison Works” slogan of previous Conservative ministers, is drawing up a White Paper on criminal justice reform that will result in fewer criminals going to jail.
The minister is facing deep cuts in his budget that will lead to the closure of several thousand prison places.
He has questioned whether imprisonment is the best way to cut reoffending and suggested that much more emphasis should be put on rehabilitating criminals.
Mr Clarke has publicly questioned whether prison is the best place to deal with offenders who are addicted to drugs.
Official figures last week revealed the scale of the challenge in cutting reoffending rates, suggesting that three quarters of people convicted of a crime go on to commit a further offence after serving their sentences.
At 14 prisons, seven in ten inmates reoffend within a year of release.
A survey of prisoners' drugs use found 71 per cent of prisoners used drugs in the year prior to custody
Dominic Williamson from the charity Revolving Doors said: “Community-based treatment as part of a sentence would work for a lot of people as long as there is a clear pathway once they leave. What happens in prison is that people receive treatment but then they are kicked out and go into the community where there is nothing for them.”
But Douglas Carswell, a Conservative MP, said that voters must should be consulted about new schemes allowing more offenders to avoid jail.
“We are going to have to bring the law abiding majority with us but that is difficult because there is no silver bullet,” he said. “There could be mistakes at the beginning. People are much more forgiving of mistakes if the person who made them is accountable to you locally.
Earl Howe, a health minister, confirmed that some offenders could be diverted and kept out of the criminal justice system.
“The Government are committed to improving the way offenders access treatment and are rehabilitated,” he said.
“The Ministry of Justice, the Home Office and the Department of Health are working together to see how diversion at police stations and at courts, as well as alternative forms of treatment-based accommodation, can contribute to this goal.”
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Green_T


Registered: 10/02/08
Posts: 4,042
Loc: UK
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Re: [UK] Drug-addicted criminals will be spared jail [Re: veggie]
#13452129 - 11/08/10 02:39 AM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
... the party’s traditional policies of imposing tough punishments on offenders.

Quote:
...the “Prison Works” slogan of previous Conservative ministers...
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"I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man" - Thomas Jefferson Legalize Meth | Drug War Victims
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shroomzi8
king of the wild fronteer



Registered: 10/04/10
Posts: 1,764
Loc: Valencia, Spain
Last seen: 7 years, 6 months
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Re: [UK] Drug-addicted criminals will be spared jail [Re: Green_T]
#13452193 - 11/08/10 03:22 AM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Dutchie3k
Psychic Drifter



Registered: 12/16/08
Posts: 348
Loc: this hazy bubble, state o...
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Re: [UK] Drug-addicted criminals will be spared jail [Re: shroomzi8]
#13452551 - 11/08/10 07:42 AM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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again Green...agreed.
& in related news, "Prison officials, law enforcement officers, and govt. contract construction outfits were thoroughly incensed at the idea of anything BUT the ruthless prison-industry complex."
-------------------- "The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. The others - the living - are those who pushed their control as far as they felt they could handle it, and then pulled back, or slowed down, or did whatever they had to when it came time to choose between Now and Later"
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