Paul_Reflex wrote:Berf - The rehabilitation interventions are not the only area of work. In a case such as this one appears to be, where custody is coming to an end, there would also be many risk management activities such as: MAPPA conferencing, Prevent channel panels and multi-agency supervision. The offenders are also subject to stringent licence conditions which can and would include residency at approved premises, non-contact conditions, exclusion zones, electronic tagging and inspection of electronic devices. I did not mean to give the impression that the criminal justice system leaves people in a semi-treated state and just hopes that there are no lapses into offending behaviour. I can’t comment on this case, but I would expect that in a terrorism case where reoffending occurs then there would be offence paralleling behaviour which was observable by colleagues supervising the case which could have led to actions such as a recall to prison. This system seems to have been a terrible and unusual system failure and there will be much to learn about the causes.
I haven’t done any work with extremists for a few years, as I work in a regional sex offender intervention unit, but whenever I talk to colleagues working in this area I am constantly impressed by the quality of the work going on and the level of resources available. I think you would feel a lot less cynical if you could see this too.
Lastly, because I work with sex offenders, I am well aware that a lot of people would prefer to see offenders either locked away for ever or disposed of in some other way. You say that maybe we don’t know what we’re talking about, but we have massive amounts of academic research and decades of programme development to draw on so I find this difficult to accept. I have spent nearly 20 years at this coal face, dealt with things that you wouldn’t believe and have suffered quite significant consequences as a result. I know that this work has saved lives, verifiably in a few cases. By all means question this system, that’s what living in a democracy is all about, but please don’t belittle the work or the expertise and dedication of my amazing friends and colleagues who undertake it.
I have no wish nor intention to belittle your good self nor the esteemed bunch you work alongside, however, have you ever considered giving these offenders a good bogwashing? Or do sanctions go no further than the naught step?
FB
