Counter-Productive Cuts to our Justice System could Lose Lives and Damage Society
Cuts to services that are designed to reduce or mitigate problems inevitably end up costing society more, whether or not management are hitting their targets. Seven years of Conservative meddling in the Probation Service could cost us more than just money. The Ministry of Justice has been in the news recently because of the murders at a conference about re-offending which took place about a year ago. The right-wing were as usual quick to discredit the whole concept of re-habilitation of offenders. They saw the conference as evidence of failure. A failure it certainly was, and a tragedy for two individuals and their families and friends. Mistakes were obviously made in the assessment of the murderer, a convicted terrorist who had been approved for an early release. But the fact that that two freed former convicts present at the conference tackled the assailant is also a sign of success for the process of rehabilitation. Prison without attempts at effective rehabilitation is simply a waste o
