Thread by @petermbenglish

It's sad to hear both PM Johnson and LotO Starmer colluding with the idea that the answer to problems is longer prison sentences.

Prisons only help when people who are dangerous and cannot otherwise be prevented from harming others are sent there.
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Prison is worse than useless for anything other than keeping us safe from too-dangerous-not-to-be-there people.

Prisons are unhealthy - the risk of Covid-19 in prisons demonstrates this.
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People don't come out of prison reformed or changed for the better. Some come out older (and therefore changed); many come out worse.

People not already addicted get addicted.
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Recidivism rates (people committing more offences) are high.

The "prisons are an expensive way of making bad people worse" adage (ironically coined by a Tory Home Secretary - Douglas Hurd) remains truer than ever.
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This "arms war" of promises of escalating sentences, and the comparison of sentence lengths to suggest that one form of crime is worse than another, is dangerous posturing.
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On @BBCRadio4 this morning, in answer to a question about the bill that passed its second reading this week, the person's reply said that all child murderers should get a life sentence, regardless of whether they murder a boy or a girl.
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Now, ignore the bit about the sex of the victim. Does it make sense for "all child murderers" to get a life sentence? Who murders children and why? Often it will be a drug addicted stepdad or a desperate young mum.
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Are such people so dangerous that other ways of dealing with it wouldn't be more proportionate and effective?

Why are we not asking more questions about the relative value of drug advice; or indeed…
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…or indeed, of the reasons why people become addicted in the first place - a consequence largely of our highly unequal, divided society.
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We've known for decades that prison doesn't work as a deterrent. What works is the belief that you will be caught.

Cuts to the legal system, the courts, etc mean that it takes years for a criminal case to come to court.
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By the time a case comes to court, memories have faded, and witnesses and victims are less motivated.

Justice deferred truly is justice denied.
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Any government - tory or labour - that truly wants to tackle sexual assaults and other crimes -

should stop posturing for the Daily Mail about (useless) harsher sentences and about inventing new laws, but should instead…
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…but should instead ensure that the resources are there to:
*prevent crime in the first place (resources to help people out of poverty and addiction…)
*prosecute and, where appropriate, convict offenders PROMPTLY AND EFFECTIVELY.

And then…
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…And then provide non-custodial disposal for the vast majority, from whom we can be protected with much cheaper, more effective, and humane approaches than prison.

FAO @BarristerSecret @TheHowardLeague
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