Is the balance of justice shifting too far in favour of victims?
At a recent public meeting of the Prison Reform Trust, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, delivered an eloquent and complex paper which challenged our perceptions on the axis of care between victims and perpetrators of crime.
A delicate balance
It is, indeed, a delicate balance. Instinct, and let us acknowledge it, emotion, tend to shift the balance decisively in favour of the victim. That is not surprising. Who cannot but feel sympathy for the battered victim of violence, sexual assault or empathise with those whose homes have been violated by burglary.
Yet neither is it controversial to state that one of the primary purposes of custody should be rehabilitation, to reproduce into society a safe and balanced individual. After all, that is the best way to reduce crime in the future.
CUSTODIAL OBSESSION?
Presently, we have a prison population of over 80,000 inmates. Does this mean we are a very wicked country, or are we sending people to prison more readily? Williams referred in his paper to a ‘custodial obsession’
