In this election campaign so far, the most notable thing to say about crime is its absence from the debate. But how do the manifestos change that?
Labour introduces measures to prevent crime by early intervention with tough talk of “no-nonsense action”. But policy initiatives like offering Family Nurse Partnerships to all vulnerable young mothers, and increasing provision of Family Intervention Projects, if implemented properly, have the potential to cut the risk of crime by helping families in difficulty and preventing children’s poor behaviour escalating.
The Conservatives promise grounding orders, allowing the police to use instant sanctions to deal with anti-social behaviour without criminalising young people unnecessarily. It would be a positive step – but what happens if the orders are breached?
The Liberal Democrats‘ offering – Neighbourhood Justice Panels – would provide a route for restorative justice measures, which have been shown to be effective in turning young people away from crime.
Unsurprisingly, none of the parties show any interest in reducing the age of criminal responsibility. On Youth Crime, the Conservatives promise to provide education, mentoring and drug rehabilitation programmes, delivered by specialist organisations. The Liberal Democrats suggest strengthening the youth service and providing statutory services in partnership with the voluntary sector.
And Labour proposes US-style street teams, more organised activities for young people and joint supervision by probation officers and police for young offenders when they get out of prison. Importantly, Labour also intends to expand the use of Youth Cautions, focusing on rehabilitation and reparation.
Most of what is on offer quietly signals some commitment to the notion that families and young people in trouble can best be turned away from crime by help and support. However, the challenge will be to provide the right kinds of services and the levels of resourcing necessary to ensure that the support is meaningful. Currently, voluntary organisations like Nacro provide a range of services to young people but we are holding our breath in anticipation of a severe reduction in funding as public spending shrinks. The payment-by-results model suggested by the Conservatives may improve practice, but is fraught with difficulties. Money is needed upfront and outcome measures will have to be very carefully considered.
Labour and the Conservatives are committed to increasing prison capacity – Labour restates their intention of providing 96,000 prison places by 2014 and the Tories say they will “increase capacity as necessary”. This would be the most appalling waste of public money, since according to the National Audit Office, short prison sentences are expensive and don’t work.
The Liberal Democrat promise to introduce a presumption against sentences of less than six months and instead get drug addicts into treatment and backed up by a pledge to cancel the Government’s billion-pound prison building programme.
As the recent cross-party Justice Committee report (https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmjust/94/94i.pdf) concluded, an approach enabling resources to be invested in effective community provision could have a positive impact on reducing crime.
Jackie Lowthian is National Policy Development Manager of Nacro
Read the manifesto promises on crime here.
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