Diagrama’s chief executive David McGuire has cited love and respect as the key elements required to support the reintegration of offenders, in a new book which aims to question the role we each play in promoting a more positive society David shares his experiences and thoughts in ‘Crime & Consequence – what should happen to people who commit criminal offences?’, which was launched on the 30th October at the Koestler Arts Exhibition at London’s South Bank centre.
An extract from David’s chapter says: “Helping people who offend to create and contribute to a community helps them practice the tools to integrate into society when they leave custody. In my experience of working to support reintegration we need to start with love and respect – not only for criminal justice systems to treat people with dignity, but to provide people who offend with the opportunity to love and respect each other – and themselves.”
Along with David’s contribution is a collection of essays and creative reflections from contributors offering their lived and professional experience of the criminal justice system to offer answers which get to the heart of the matter. They explore how best to ensure that societal responses to crime tackle the causes and consequences, making a strong case for investment in alternatives to prison and interventions and approaches which may better solve underlying issues.
The book also invites the reader to consider their own role in being part of the answer and includes a foreword from Michael Spurr, formerly Chief Executive HM Prison and Probation Service as well as contributions from academics, experiences practitioners from public and voluntary services from the UK, Spain and the USA and those who have committed crime and been through the system. Reflections are shared on how we might better address specific types of crimes or treat different groups of people who commit them.
As part of this launch David has recorded a podcast which features excerpts from the book read by himself. The podcast can be found here, it is produced by Prison Radio Association (PRA) for Clinks and the National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance (NCJAA) on behalf of The Monument Fellowship. This book is the third in a series curated by The Monument Fellowship; eight organisations funded by The Monument Trust to work together to make a sustained, cumulative and transformative change to the journey of individuals through our justice system. Alongside the Diagrama Foundation: The Centre for Justice Innovations, Clinks, Khulisa UK, Koestler Arts, Lemos and Crane: The Good Prison, The National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance and Restorative Solutions CIC.
You can download the latest e-book from the Clinks website here or purchase a copy of the book on the Koestler Trust’s website here .
Thank you to Clinks for the use of images.
