Thursday 26 June 2008

Is the public "cut off" from the Criminal Justice Process?

By Helen Wells
A report from the Government's Crime and communities adviser, Louise Casey, says that the public thinks that criminal justice is "distant, unaccountable and unanswerable". According to the report, 79% of people think that the criminal justice system is mainly concerned with serving the rights and needs of criminals, while only 33% think it is there to serve the rights of victims.
The report also suggests that the public want to know more about criminals convicted in their area, with names and convictions circulated on posters or in leaflets. Casey suggests that offenders doing Community Service should be made to wear bright uniforms to "mark them out as criminals".

Valuable "community feedback", or counterproductive "naming and shaming"?

No comments: