Kim Workman Director Rethinking Crime and Punishment

1. Kim Workman Director Rethinking Crime and Punishment Loving the Prisoner – What Should Christians Do?

2. 2011 - Prison as Fiscal and Moral Failure “Prisons are a fiscal and moral failure and building more of them on a large scale is something no New Zealander wants to see” Hon Bill English, Families Commission 50 Critical Thinkers Forum . 10 May 2011

3. The sector spends a lot and has increased rapidly Real expenditure, Justice sector Votes Source: Treasury

4. The prison population has grown Source: Corrections Annual Reports

5. Sentence lengths have increased... Prison sentenced snapshot by management category Source: Offender Volumes Report 2009, Department of Corrections

6. ...yet short sentences dominate prison throughput Source: Offender Volumes Report 2009, Department of Corrections

7. Increasing interventionism coincides with slightly reduced crime in the past decade Source: New Zealand Crime Statistics 2009/10, Police

8. all this activity has not reduced recidivism 2009/10 2004/05 Source: Corrections, Annual Report 2009/10 and 2004/5

9. The outlook: prison population is forecast to continue to rise... Source: Department of Corrections Annual Reports / Ministry of Justice: Justice Sector Forecast 2010 - 2020

12. Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. Hebrews 13:3

13. ‘‘A society can control effectively only those who perceive themselves to be members of it’’ Leslie Wilkins (1971)

14. Prisoner Reintegration • Community attachment and informal control mechanism are interrupted by imprisonment • Reengagement with the community is a major challenge • Released offenders pose potential risks of community safety – how is that best managed?

15. Prisoner Reintegration • Longer sentences and fewer rehabilitation programmes leave offenders with few skills, resources, and structural supports to reintegrate successfully • USA: 650, 000 leave prisons every year - 52% back in prison after 3 years • NZ: • 20,000 complete prison sentences every year - 37.9% back in prison after two years, (Maori 43%) • 61.9% reoffend after two years (Maori 68%)

16. Prisoner Reintegration USA – Formal reintegration programme since 2001 Initial approach – Federal government brought together key agencies to address re-entry – assess needs prior to release, and provide support after release. • Funding used to add community transition services to correctional settings – develop reintegration plans for prisoners.

17. New Zealand 2004 Reintegration Policy • Similar Approach to USA • Risk and needs based • Sentence plan - risks and needs • Target high risk offenders and youth • Probation monitor - stick and carrot

18. Ohio and Vermont • Expanding corrections infrastructure not way to tackle prisoner re-entry • Funded Community Justice and other providers to take responsibility • Offender reentry as ‘’civic engagement’ • Assumption - Communities should determine how issues with released prisoners should be dealt with

19. Ohio and Vermont • Funded Community Justice Centres and existing providers • Secure housing • Access Drug treatment • Pro-social opportunities for recreation, interaction and community engagement

20. Reintegration as Civic Engagement Preserve public safety by monitoring and engaging with returning offenders, by: • Helping offenders to develop pro-social identities • Changing the community’s image of such persons, and • Marshalling ‘‘community capacity’’ to supply emotional support and concrete help

21. Reintegration as Civic Engagement Position strategy within an evidence-based framework • Identity Transformation Research” (Micro-level) • Life Course Research (Meso level) • Community level research (Macro level)

22. The Strategy Provide ways for returning offenders to create new identities by: • Intermingling with pro-social individuals • Performing valuable services • Establishing informal social control • Move from a retributive culture to an inclusive and restorative one

23. The Experience • Need to alter stigmatised identity • The offender’s sense of self • The community’s perspective of the offender • Offender needs intensive support and services – but that’s not all • Opportunities to forge a new identity – engagement in new ‘pro-social ‘ roles • Not about change – it’s about exchange • The community must marshal its ”social capital’ to Develop shared norms and values • Build relationships of trust and reciprocity

24. Formality of Engagement • Transitional Housing • Community Panels • Mentoring • Circles of Support and Accountability Conclusion: The more bureaucratic – the more formality

25. Social Distance • Transitional Housing - Doing things to people • Community Panels - Doing things for people • Mentoring - Doing things with people • Circles of Support and Accountability - People mostly doing it for themselves Conclusion • The more professional – the greater the social distance • The closer the distance – the more likely to have shared values

26. In Summary: • Movement away from control and needs based approach • Movement towards a ‘strength-based” narrative • “Earned redemption” i.e. earning communal trust through service and reparation of harm • Offenders as collaborators in helping communities (rather than receivers of assistance) • Genuine community inclusion

27. Breaking Down Social Distance • Collective ownership of crime and quality-of-life problems in a community • Punitive public attitudes and sensibilities have a negative impact on successful reintegration • Repairing the social contract

28. The Challenge for the Church Behave – Believe – Belong OR Belong – Believe – Behave

29. The Challenge for Christians • While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. • 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” •  17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2: 15 - 17

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31. Kim Workman Director Rethinking Crime and Punishment Loving the Prisoner