Dear Secretary of State for Justice
blog | Words Matthew Horne | 12 Aug 2024
Congratulations on being appointed to the cabinet. The next five years will undoubtedly be very challenging for our justice system, with violence remaining pervasive in too many communities and the immediate need to resolve the issue of overcrowding in our prisons.
Innovation Unit has spent the last 7 years supporting innovations that reduce violence, and reoffending. Below we have picked out 4 commitments from your manifesto, where we can share lessons around what it will take to deliver on these promises.
1
Getting a grip of our prisons and reducing reoffending
For the last 6 years we have worked with colleagues in prison, probation and leaving care services, to pilot an innovation aimed at people with experience of both care and custody – (which unbelievably is 25% our prison population). Working with prisons across the West Midlands, we tested the Always Hope model. Always Hope improves collaboration and integrates planning between prison, probation and local authority staff, it also helps people leaving prison to reconnect with their pro-social support networks in the community – reducing the risk of recall and reoffending. We can share early evaluation reports with the full evaluation due next year.
Based on what we have learned, we argue that the prison service should consistently identify and report better data about care leavers in prisons. We also think the government should impose a legal duty to cooperate on prison, probation and leaving care services to reduce reoffending; and ask Ofsted and the Inspector of Prisons and Probation to inspect local partnership working for care leavers in prison. And finally we recommend you spread the Always Hope model to other prison regions and adapt it for the women’s estate.
2
Tackling knife crime
We conducted research for a VRU with 350 community members about their views on violence affecting young people.
From our research we know that vulnerability and personal fear are important drivers in young people carrying weapons, and that weapons are often carried to provide a feeling of self-protection. Young people, youth workers and other professionals told us that listening is a crucial first step. Victims are also often perpetrators in knife and blade crime. Trauma-informed practice across Youth Offenders Teams and the new Young Futures programme, is essential to providing sustainable, effective support for young people, as well as being part of a cross-sector approach to combating toxic masculinity.
3
Intervene earlier to stop young people being drawn into crime with a network of hubs reaching every community.
We know what it takes to design and deliver successful, sustained, multi-disciplinary, preventive support hubs.
Our approach shows that providing flexible, easily accessible, support from a range of services including housing, employment, mental health and drug and alcohol support services significantly improves outcomes that matter most to people. Bringing together the expertise of young people, youth workers, youth justice services, schools, CAMHS, career services and the police to codesign the Young Futures Hubs will be a core factor in their success – and we know what it takes to make this work.
4
Tackling violence against women and girls
Our research indicates that a culture of toxic masculinity is contributing to violence against women and girls. Young men and boys are learning that retaliation and aggression is a strength, unhealthy attitudes towards women and girls is normal, and it’s ok to coerce girls into carrying weapons.
This Is Manly, our Australia-based project was co-designed with young people to change the narrative around masculinity, to better prevent violence against women and girls. We should also be working with young people to change the school curriculum, with lessons to better support them to understand the pressures of toxic masculinity, unhealthy relationships and the consequences of serious violence. An example of this is the successful Chicago-based BAM (‘Becoming a Man’) programme which we want to see adopted across the UK school system, to tackle entrenched toxic masculinity.
We are keen to help shape a future in which young people have better outcomes and violence is less pervasive in communities. We look forward to helping make these goals a reality – sharing our insights, our evidence, and our approach to system change locally and nationally from across the education, justice, children and families, and health sectors. Please do get in touch, if you want to learn more.
Warmest wishes,