An interesting new movement is growing in the US. Faced with unsustainable costs, rightwing politicians are questioning the decades-old mantra that an ever higher rate of incarceration is the best way to fight crime. Former governor of Florida Jeb Bush is the latest high-profile Republican to back the call for new thinking.
Both in the UK and the US, old thinking focused solely on tough enforcement, backed up by an ever-expanding prison population. Indeed, the UK prison population has nearly doubled since 1993 and is at a record level. Yet while crime has fallen – a global trend – it remains too high, with too many victims. Antisocial behaviour is a public concern and blights lives.
Half of all crime is committed by those who have already been through the criminal justice system. So the government has been driving a radical programme of reforms to reduce reoffending. Our "rehabilitation revolution", under which we are rolling out the principle of paying public, private and voluntary agencies by results to break the cycle of reoffending, is a truly radical scheme – indeed a world first.
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