Criminal Justice

The criminal justice system is in need of reform. The Foundation has supported hundreds of small and local charities supporting people within the criminal justice system and tackling violence against women and girls. These charities have told us about the challenges that the people they support are facing – when on probation, within prisons and when they leave.

A disproportionate number of people who are already marginalised are criminalised – for example, over a quarter (27%) of the prison population are from a Black, Asian or minoritised ethnic group – and there is evidence of discrimination and abusive treatment on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality and disability across the system (Prison Reform Trust). When leaving the criminal justice system, people face multiple barriers to reintegrating into their community, accessing safe and suitable accommodation and re-entering employment. Alongside the important work of charities delivering services to people across the criminal justice system, there is a need for systemic change. We advocate for these changes by undertaking direct policy work, investing in research, building on the experience of our charity partners, and funding charities to influence change.

 

Criminal Justice Programme: 2020–2024

The expertise, connections and reach of specialist charities is needed more than ever, yet many have struggled to access funding or get their voices heard.

To address this, from 2020 to 2024 we ran a Criminal Justice programme with the following objectives:

• supporting the specialist voluntary sector to operate, become stronger and to speak up within the challenging prisons and probation environment
• improving the policy and operating environment for smaller charities, particularly by seeking to influence the new probation system
• influencing work further “upstream” in the criminal justice system to help divert and reduce people entering prison in the first place
• influencing support for specific demographic groups within the criminal justice system

We awarded funding to 17 specialist charities and partnerships to influence change in the criminal justice system. From challenging discriminatory treatment received by Muslim prisoners, to supporting smaller specialist charities to speak up in a difficult environment or calling for early intervention and better alternatives to prison, these charities have been working to improve policy and practice across the system.

Many of these charities achieved important steps towards these goals over the course of this funding – but the environment continues to be challenging and there are further opportunities to build on their success. As such, in 2022, we awarded additional funding to nine of these charities to continue building on what they have achieved so far. Here is an overview of the projects: 

• Agenda: Improving experiences of young women in contact with the criminal justice system.
• APPEAL: Challenging criminalisation for debt – focused on council tax debt and TV licensing.
• Community Chaplaincy Association: Influencing policy and practice in community chaplaincy sector, supporting diversification of membership and enhancing support for specific demographic groups in the CJS.
• Criminal Justice Alliance: Increasing use of restorative justice, improving support for victims, particularly young adults and Black, Asian and minority ethnic victims, and working towards a more coordinated criminal justice voluntary sector.
• Maslaha: Improving treatment of Muslims in prison.
• Revolving Doors: Increasing diversion away from the criminal justice system for young adults involved with repeat low level crime.
• Transform Justice: Reducing the number of people prosecuted for minor crimes by increasing support for, and use of, options to resolve crime without going to court.
• Traveller Movement: Addressing disproportionality of Gypsy and Traveller adults and young people in the criminal justice system, improving ethnicity monitoring, and pushing for implementation of the Lammy Review.
• Zahid Mubarek Trust: Reducing racial disparity in prisons.

 

Working on prevention

There are many costs to both an individual and society when someone becomes caught up in the criminal justice system. Ensuring that people can get support as early as possible can prevent problems from escalating and is more cost-effective in the long term. As part of our focus on preventing people from ending up in the criminal justice system in the first place, we supported the Howard League for Penal Reform to work with the police to reduce the number of women arrested for non-violent crimes. Too often women with complex needs enter the criminal justice system because they have been arrested in situations where this was not necessary or effective. Their work has shown that very often women who find themselves in the criminal justice system have experienced violence and abuse, and that Black, Asian and minority ethnic women are more than twice as likely to be arrested than white women. 

Our grant enabled Howard League to build relationships with police forces across the country and act as an information hub sharing good practice around working with women, encouraging them to make changes to the policing of women at local and national levels. As part of their work influencing policy and practice, they collated and shared national data on arrests of women, showing when and why women were being arrested unnecessarily, and submitted evidence to the Public Accounts Committee inquiry into improving outcomes for women in the criminal justice system, highlighting examples of good practice to reduce arrests and signpost women to support.

 

Influencing policy and practice directly

As well as funding charities to influence, we also amplify the voices of our charity partners and bring together evidence and insights from across the charities we support to influence change. This includes responding to policy consultations, meeting with ministers or civil servants, or sharing learning with other organisations. For example, we responded to the Labour Policy Forum consultation on ‘Guaranteeing safe and secure communities through an effective criminal justice system’ by presenting evidence from the charities we partner with, highlighting issues and inequalities that need to be addressed, and how specialist charities and people with lived experience have a key role to play in developing new policy and practice to reform the system.

 

Exploring funding flows in the criminal justice sector

We have partnered with New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) to deliver a research project exploring funding flows to the criminal justice voluntary sector in England and Wales. This research is focused on mapping funding flows from both statutory and philanthropic funders to the criminal justice voluntary sector, exploring with charitable organisations how the nature of funding impacts on them and the people they work with. The project will consider how funders can work together in a more integrated and efficient way, allowing charities to deliver better services to the people who are most in need of their support.

 

Investing in Black and Global Majority leaders

We have partnered with The Barrow Cadbury Trust to invest in Q-SEED, a new pilot leadership programme for Black and Global Majority leaders in the criminal justice system. The overarching objective of the programme is to challenge and change the structural inequalities prevalent within the criminal justice system, from policy through to service design and delivery, through building leadership capabilities.

By the end of our Q-SEED pilot, we hope that participants will understand the importance of parliamentary sessions, and the submitting of policy recommendations as an integral aspect of their work. They will be confident working with decision-makers to articulate the nuances of structural and systemic racism and propose evidence-based solutions, influencing policy and practice.