Whose Crime is it anyway?
The theme for Prisoners’ Week 2008 in Scotland is inspired by the title of a well know TV programme: Whose Line Is It Anyway?
The Channel 4 TV show invited various panellists to improvise songs, scenarios, roles and characters. Sometimes the audience suggested what these might be and at other times the directions came from the programme’s host, Clive Anderson. Some of its most famous performers included Josie Lawrence, Greg Proops, Caroline Quentin, John Sessions and Tony Slattery.
Given the way the programme’s title trips off the tongue, and occupies a space in the consciousness of its many fans, it’s hoped that the question “Whose Crime is it anyway” will similarly occupy the consciousness of many in our communities during Prisoners’ Week and beyond. The question is intended to work as a catalyst to discussion, and maybe as we talk with one another in our communities about prisoners and all who are affected by crime we will improvise, imagine a variety of scenarios, and find together something better for everyone. You can in a sense participate in the debate by contributing a point of view in the message box of this web-site; this will effectively be like an email.
Whose Crime is it anyway?
It may be a controversial question. It is simply a question, so perhaps the true controversy will lie with the answers.
It can be said that such a question as this is not intended to obviate any sense of responsibility, in fact, arguably it could result in an increased sense of responsibility, and a more widely shared one at that. One would be rightly wary if somehow offenders were to be ‘let off the hook’. Each of us must square up to how our behaviour affects others, whether that behaviour be against the law or within it! There has been in recent years a welcome emphasis on the impact of offending behaviour upon victims of crime and victim empathy is a strong theme in Restorative Justice work.
Yet increasingly we are being made aware that crime and social exclusion are linked. It’s not a straightforward cause and effect relationship - take the many people living with the challenges of scant resources who never choose the path of crime. Yet if you look at the record numbers of those now in Scotland’s jails, most who are there come from areas of social deprivation.
Research published in 2005 by Roger Houchin identified that 50% of inmates come from 155 of the 1222 local government wards in Scotland (almost exactly the poorest wards). The report on ‘Alternatives to Custody’ presented to the 2007 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, pointed out that prisoners “are overwhelmingly disadvantaged and vulnerable individuals. Two thirds arrive in prison from unemployment, and three quarters leave with no job to go to; 70% of offenders have been in care. About half of those admitted to prison lack functional literacy and around 60% lack functional numeracy, with young offenders at the higher end of the scale.”
Addictions to alcohol and drugs have for long been associated with crime, and the vast majority of those admitted to prison are at that time involved, in one way or another, with the use of drugs.
These patterns and statistics invite us to discuss the question of shared responsibility for the way a society like ours has developed, a society in which many in our communities are clearly disadvantaged. Could it be that everyone has a responsibility to face when it comes to considering the factors which lie behind much crime in our society?
Whilst Prisoners’ Week offers a focus on those in prison, it also provides an opportunity to stimulate discussion and ask questions about why these things are happening in our society. The intention of this year’s theme is to dig under the surface of crime, to recognise, for example, that whilst carrying an offensive weapon is a criminal act it also makes sense to pose the question ‘why do some people feel the need to carry knives?’
Desistance research indicates that the following all make a difference:-
- employment opportunities
- accommodation
- family relationships
- positive social networks
- and self-belief.
It can be argued that as a society we bear a responsibility for bridging the gaps and reaching out by way of support and fresh beginnings. In the words of Recommendation 18 of “Scotland’s Choice”, the Prisons Commission Report chaired by Henry McLeish, we have “a duty to re-integrate both those who have paid back in the community and those who have served their time in prison”.
References:
Roger Houchin, Social Exclusion and Imprisonment in Scotland, A Report, Glasgow Caledonian University, January 2005
Scotland’s Choice, Report of the Scottish Prisons Commission, July 2008, Crown copyright.
What is the Alternative? Report of the Church & Society Council to the Church of Scotland General Assembly 2007.