The new government’s promise to cut the prison population

In his first press conference as Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, echoing the aspirations of the newly-appointed prisons minister, James Timpson, expressed his intention to reduce the prison population. On its face this is an extremely welcome development, and one that those of us who work in criminal justice have been waiting for.

Starmer has reflected on his own personal experience as a lawyer of seeing young people being processed and set on what he calls the “escalator” to prison, noting that “many of them could have been taken out of that system earlier if they’d had support”.

Criminal practitioners will know that the evidence is on the Prime Minister’s side when he says this; there is a growing body of evidence making it very plain that entering the criminal justice system at an early age is a very good way of keeping people trapped in it.

Indeed, the overarching principles for sentencing children and young people make explicit reference to this when they impose a duty on the courts to ‘avoid ‘criminalising’ children and young people unnecessarily’ and to treat custody as a last resort.

The steps towards change

Knowing the benefits of ‘diversion’ from prosecution, it makes sense that the government should take appropriate early steps to intervene. Rebuilding the system of support for young people through ‘youth hubs’ will be a good first step towards undoing some of the damage caused by years of under investment in public life.

Moving on from there to the wider fabric of society, ensuring that people’s needs for secure housing, employment and care in the community are met, would be even better, and case studies in violence reduction from Glasgow to London show the benefits of a more ‘public health’-oriented approach to crime.

Timpson has opined that as many as a third of our current prison population should not be where they are. Whether this is because of missed opportunities for intervention or because their behaviours have been unnecessarily criminalised, this in itself is a bold observation, and one that is certainly worth thinking about in light of these findings.

The situation in the UK

In all this, of course, those of us hoping for a change of approach are at the mercy of two things: the fiscal rules which the government has determined to uphold and which will surely tighten public spending; and the political will to keep following where the evidence leads in the face of a potential backlash.