I recently facilitated a discussion on behalf of the Ministry of Justice with a group of ‘real life’ experts on crime. We came together at the end of February to discuss the government’s Green Paper and how it is set to try and improve our criminal justice system. The group didn’t include any professors in criminology, heads of probation or crime reduction charities, or even individuals with countless years experience working with offenders. The ‘real life’ experts I am referring to are those who have had the living experience of a life in crime and spent many years on the receiving end of criminal justice. They were, of course, ex-offenders.

The day was split into 2, a morning session run with a group of adult ex-offenders aged 30+ and an afternoon session with younger ex-offenders aged 17-26. The majority of the adult group had been crime-free for many years and most were now working within a professional capacity. The younger groups experience of criminal justice was much more recent, a lot were now working or volunteering for resettlement charities whilst a few had only been out of prison for a couple of months. Throughout the day we discussed the government’s themes which included punishment and payback, rehabilitating offenders to reduce crime, sentencing and working with communities to reduce crime. The sessions we ran offered a great deal of valuable insight. The conversations that took place were gripping from the start, all present felt strongly about the proposals and explained in great depth why they would or wouldn’t be affective. Many kept referring back to their own experience which put them in a position that no one could argue against.

I believe the insight we gained from these discussions should be of greater value than anything else put forward by any of the agencies currently working within criminal justice, because it came from the people who these proposals are aimed at: offenders. In my view there is no one better placed than the ex-offender or offender to tell you whether the criminal justice system works or not.  Likewise no one has a greater investment in improving the current system than the offender or ex-offender. No amount of books, statistics or case studies can provide you with the depth of knowledge, insight and understanding that a ‘real life’ experience can.

I strongly believe that ex-offenders will have a very important role to play in reducing reoffending in the future. Together we hold the answers and solutions through our own ‘real life’ experience. The problem had been that there wasn’t a platform for our voices to be heard - that was until 2009, when User Voice was established. Our message is loud and clear: “only offenders can reduce re-offending”.

 

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