Note
Chairman: Alan Beith.
Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 1 December 2009.
"Incorporating HC 425-i-x, session 2007-08 and HC 54-i-iii, session 2008-09."
Description based on print version record.
Summary
This report calls for changes in the way the UK responds to crime and re-offending. It argues that the criminal justice system faces a 'crisis of sustainability' if resources continue to be absorbed by an ever-expanding programme of prison building rather than on preventing crimes from being committed. Prison buildings are not an effective long-term answer to coping with the already record-breaking prison population which is predicted to rise further. The average prison place costs £41,000 a year (plus further capital costs and health and education expenditure on top) with the Government's new prisons costing - on current estimates - up to £4.2 billion over the next 35 years. The Committee believes that a more 'prudent, rational, effective and humane' use of resources is needed to shift the focus of expenditure away from incarceration and towards rehabilitation and prevention. This would involve investment in local education, health, drug, alcohol and community programmes in targeted areas based on analyses of where offences occur, where offenders live and 'what works' in reducing offending. This is known as 'justice reinvestment'.