Rod Morgan

Criminalising Looked-after Children

The issue Young people in care where the local authority is in loco parentis, share, prior to their being taken into care, many of the risk factors exhibited by children prosecuted for offending behaviour (Youth Justice Board 2001). Indeed, some commentators suggest it is something of a lottery whether many children at risk are dealt with through Family Court or Youth Court proceedings. Yet, while in care, such children suffer from double jeopardy. If they are in residential care they are often exposed to even more of the risk factors associated with offending. Their educational links will likely be disrupted and their attachments to friends and the extended family undermined. They may feel alienated. They will probably be drawn into contact with a new peer group engaged in offending. But there is a further, exacerbating factor. The likelihood of their being criminalised for behaviour which, were they at home with parents or other carers, would almost certainly not result in the police being called and prosecution resulting, is likely to increase. To the extent that this occurs they are further disadvantaged and stigmatised.

The magistracy: secure epitome of the Big Society?

In 2011 the magistracy celebrated 650 years of the office, which in key respects appeared to be in unprecedented good health. More socially representative than ever before, with gender parity and 8 per cent of magistrates drawn from the minority ethnic communities (only slightly less than the proportion in the population as a whole) the office is also, according to ministers, the epitome of the Big Society – local, unpaid volunteers serving their communities, which, as the Prime Minister has insisted, represents the Conservative Partys ‘underlying political philosophy’ and his ‘personal mission’ (Cameron, 2011). Magistrates also perform a vital public service, hearing over 90 per cent of the cases coming before our criminal courts. Yet, beneath the surface, virtually unnoticed by political commentators, there is growing disquiet among the ranks of the 26,000 magistrates in England and Wales. Many are considering their position. They feel that the strength and vitality of their office is being sapped by d...

Resettlement the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and NOMS: prospects & problems

Through the Prison Gate was the first thematic report which I (together with Anne Owers) launched as incoming Chief Inspector of Probation in early autumn 2001. Our report was closely followed by parallel exercises undertaken by the National Audit Office (Reducing Prisoner Reoffending, January 2002) and, with an even higher profile, the Social Exclusion Unit (Reducing Re-offending by Ex-prisoners, July 2002).

Probation: cutting through the silt

Few reasonably well informed observers of penal policy could at the close of 2002 have been unaware that our prison system stands on the edge of yet another crisis. A record population, in excess of 72,000, and rising. Police cells being used for Home Office prisoners once again. The delivery of offending behaviour programmes disrupted because of the need practically to manage the excess prisoners within the available estate. A major disturbance and loss of accommodation at Lincoln Prison. The number of recorded suicides higher than ever.

Keeping it in the family

business.utulsa.edu Ben Holman, assistant professor of professional practice in accounting, started at The University of Tulsa in 2016. He currently teaches courses in accounting for the MBA program and undergraduate accounting. Prior to TU, Holman had 18 years of experience in the international oil and gas industry, including an expatriate assignment in South America. Most recently, Holman served as CFO, CAO and controller of Apco Oil and Gas International, Inc. and director of international accounting at WPX Energy. Holman earned a BSBA with a major in accounting and a BS with a major in Spanish from TU in 1997, and a Master of Accountancy from TU in 2016. He is a certified public accountant who brings his international business and financial reporting experience to the classroom. Faculty Spotlight

First-time youth offender entrants: more smoke and mirrors

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Probation – a stressful term

50 billion fraud perpetrated by Bernard Madoff worked for years because his New York-based fund appeared virtually to guarantee high returns. As a result his investors failed to probe the legal plausibility of the exercise. The same phenomenon characterises some crime and reconviction statistics. Which is why the outspoken criticism voiced in early December 2008 by Sir Michael Scholar, Head of the UK Statistics Authority, regarding the premature release by the Home Office of ‘selective’ knife crime statistics was so welcome. Back in 2003, Lord Warner, my predecessor as Chairman of the Youth Justice Board (YJB), trumpeted that the re-offending rate (it should have been described as the reconviction rate) for young offenders subject to non-custodial penalties was 22.5 per cent below that predicted. The announcement prompted Tony Blair publicly to congratulate the YJB on its achievement (YJB, 2003). It seemed implausible (at least to me) at the time and arguably the YJB should have questioned the eviden...

Overtaking on the right

The probation service in England and Wales had a hard time during the last parliament. It has been the subject of severe cash limits, there has been pressure on caseloads and there has been a c fall of 4% in the number of probation staff. In 1994, the Home Secretary commenced his strategy aimed at abolishing probation training. He commissioned civil servants to analyse the effectiveness of the current arrangements. The report pointed to the status quo. He then sought expert opinion on his plans for abolition from consumer groups. They voted 493 to 11 against the changes. However he still went ahead. By December 1995 a Statutory Instrument had been laid before both Houses of Parliament abolishing the need for the diploma in Social Work. There is still no replacement. The pain goes on.