I. Stephanie Boyce FKC, FRSA: “Don’t just leave us on the streets! The new early release program fails to address the deeper issues plaguing the #criminaljustice system”

Homelessness and reoffending are set to rise as hundreds are due to be released with nowhere to go. As prisoners are released early to ease overcrowding, this is shifting the problem, not curing it. Prisons are running at 99% capacity and a record high of over 88,000 prisoners; releasing loads of prisoners at the same time is setting those individuals up to reoffend just to get a safe place to rest their heads.

I. Stephanie Boyce FKC, FRSA

Former President of the Law Society of England and Wales

| Keynote Speaker | Leadership Advisory | Coaching | Thought Leader

The new early release program fails to address the deeper issues plaguing the criminal justice system. From the point of arrest to the point of release, the criminal justice system is in crisis; it is broken and in disarray. Overloaded, underfunded, underresourced, lack of recruitment, and a huge number of recalls to prison, the system requires urgent reform. The Domestic Violence Commissioner has spoken of victims not sleeping easy in their beds pending those released early. Whilst measures may have been enacted to ensure the most violent offenders remain behind bars, the reality is victims, witnesses, and defendants are being failed by successive governments and their disregard for law and order.

“….. doing everything we can to make sure that high-risk and domestic abusers, domestic violence cases are not released”, does not give the requisite assurance required to allow we, the public, to feel protected and to sleep easy in our beds. The early release scheme is not a solution but a crude attempt to put a plaster over a gaping wound. Urgent reform is needed before the crisis worsens. Where’s the strategy? Where’s the justice and where is the protection?
LawandOrder #JusticeSystem #EarlyReleaseScheme OvercrowdedPrisons