Number of prisoners partly due to level of policing island enjoys
IT MIGHT be a good thing that Guernsey has such a high per capita prison population, said West deputy Emilie Yerby.
Recent figures have shown that the island is on a par with Wales, which was recently reported to have the highest per capita prison population in western Europe.
The local figure is due to a number of factors, said Deputy Yerby, but as one example she referred to last year’s review of Law Enforcement by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary.
‘The report observed that Guernsey enjoys “thorough investigation of crimes which most police forces in England and Wales would have treated as too minor to investigate”.
‘That’s doubtless reflected in our justice statistics.’
But she pointed out that the report also said that the island is not yet consistently good at identifying vulnerable people or understanding risks and threats at a strategic level, ‘all of which suggests we aren’t yet able to deliver effective prevention that lowers the risk of all kinds of crime and re-offending in our community.’
While whether a specific sentence handed down for a crime was a matter for the courts, ‘we can ask a range of related questions: do the courts have clear sentencing guidelines? Are the sentences which are available to our judges – whether that’s sending people to prison, or requiring them to undertake community services – effective in reducing crime?
‘Do our judges have a
good enough range of
sentencing options?’
Convincing a convicted criminal not to reoffend was a key issue, she added: ‘Study after study has shown that prison sentences, especially short-term sentences, just don’t do that.
‘Once a crime has happened, people have been hurt; people are scared. If we really want to protect our community, we have to focus more effort on preventing crime at an early stage – that has been my consistent message, and I hope Home Affairs will really reflect an emphasis on prevention in their justice framework.’
n In the UK, Prison minister Rory Stewart MP has suggested scrapping prison sentences of six months or less as they do more harm than good, and don’t always offer the best method of rehabilitation.
