Youths criminalised 'so politicians can make headlines'

---

Politicians and the media were criticised for wrongly criminalising young people in a film screened in London yesterday.

'Fear Factory', by Spirit Level Film, explores the impact the country's increasingly punitive approach to youth justice is having on reoffending rates and society's view of crime.

The film includes contributions from a number of leading commentators on the issues of prison reform and youth justice.

Martin Narey, ex-director general of HM Prisons and chief executive of childrens' charity Barnados, speaks passionately in the film about the need for reform of the youth justice system.

"If we were really determined to reduce crime and protect future victims, I honestly, honestly believe we would send fewer young people to prison."

"We wouldn't take a lot of people who were ill, put them in a hospital building, give them no treatment and expect them to get better. Yet we take lots of prisoners, we put them in a prison building, we give them no treatment and we expect them to get better - why?"

Cherie Blair, president of the English Commission on Prisons, asks why we are still sending so many people to prison, when only 30 per cent of prisoners do not return to serve a further jail term.

"A school that only gets 30 per cent of its pupils with five or more A-C GCSEs is branded as a failing school."

The film questions the wisdom of prison-building – the United Kingdom is about to breach a prison population of 90,000 – when the system is patently failing.

Nor does it reflect an increasing crime rate. In the film, Martin Narey states that the crime rate is "undoubtedly" falling.

Why, then, is the average Sun reader's perception of the crime rate ten times what it should be?

Juliet Lyons, of the Prison Reform Trust, believes that we have constructed a 'fear factory'.

"Media and politicians between the two of them have given a misleading impression to the public not only about the state of the criminal justice system, but about what works."

According to former executive editor of the Sun, Chris Roycroft-Davis, "Newspapers have a duty to their shareholders to make money. I don't know if they have a duty to educate or inform."

Roycroft-Davis says the media has an increasing ability to make politicians make knee-jerk decisions.

This is demonstrated in the film by the case of James Bulger. In 1993, the two boys responsible for Bulger's killing were found guilty of murder. Then aged 11, they were the youngest people to be convicted of murder in English criminal history. They were sentenced to ten years' imprisonment.

Following a successful campaign by the Sun, home secretary Michael Howard announced their sentence would be raised to 15 years.

This political intervention, was called "institutionalised vengeance... a politician playing to the gallery", by Lord Donaldson, and the increased minimum term was overturned in 1997 by the House of Lords.

But political rhetoric on issues of crime is still clearly evident.

In a question-and-answer session following the film, criminologist Roger Graef OBE told the audience of Jack Straw's response to his suggestion in 1997 that the prison population should be reduced."You are absolutely right, but the Sun and the Mail would have us for breakfast."

There was an overwhelming consensus by the film contributors that politicians privately believe there is another option other than imprisoning the young, but publicly, crime-fighting rhetoric is what scores the most political points.

"Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime".

A coalition has formed on the back on the film, lobbying for an end to the 'law and order arms race'.

The early intervention charity Chance UK is a member of the coalition, to find out more about them please see here.

Article Comments