Genocide? The issues with offender management

ImJack - 7 Sep 24 5:58 PM

AB2014 - 5 Sep 24 9:01 AM

ImJack - 4 Sep 24 11:34 AM

Genocide (art. 2 of UN convention ratified 1952)
'Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group'
'Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part'

Suicides of males of 2023-2024 = 3042*
Suicides of people under police management = (674) There were 360 self-inflicted deaths between April 2022 and March 2023, and there were 314 deaths unexplained.**

Its commonly supposed by the general public that deaths of offenders are guilt-related. Undoubtedly this is a factor. However, looking at some academic (and government reporting) suggests many offenders kill themselves simply because of frustration at their inability to rejoin society and carry on. Example: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666353820300059

This has been my personal experience (being driven to kill myself at the probation office, after having my training and education prevented, and my 18m relationship undermined to destruction), which was labelled as 'revenge' against the system. I was convicted of possession of indecent images, certainly a shameful offence, but that criminal record is in my experience a complete barrier to having anything like a normal life permanently, even after 6 years of rehabilitation and counselling (which I have paid for myself). I was actually rebuilding my life, with a job and a long term relationship before my conviction (the length of time the police took to investigate [two unencrypted devices] at over a year is another factor I feel is depressing people to the point of suicide because they can't move on during that time).

I feel that agents with the criminal justice system (CJS) are far too inclined to blame the offenders for these issues, rather than make a meaningul effort to help them rehabilitate. Certainly access to the NHS is a joke - they do not have the resources for general mental health let alone the specialist knowledge of what makes people offend, and cannot change the approach of the CJS, so the problems just escalate. I found some NHS professionals very judgemental indeed (although some frontline staff were fantastic).

Hence my title 'Genocide' because every agent I have interacted with has ignored the issues. Also the police have NO POLICY FOR MENTALLY DISABLED people only mental health issues (I am austistic and find the SHPO challenging). When I have raised simple points for improvement, they have pretty much laughed in my face (includes ironically probation, but police as well). Everyone just wants to follow procedure. I think following orders blindly makes you no better than a concentration camp guard during WW2 (many criminals and mentally disabled people were murdered).

I'm currently facing a court case and further prosecution for failing to declare a pc I was sent and never used for review. I am guilty of this. But its mainly down to the autism which I have finally received medication for after waiting two years. The police know this, but want to follow 'the process'. Pointless? I think so.

* https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/near-to-real-time-suspected-suicide-surveillance-nrtsss-for-england/statistical-report-near-to-real-time-suspected-suicide-surveillance-nrtsss-for-england-for-the-15-months-to-august-2023#findings
** https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/deaths-of-offenders-in-the-community-annual-update-to-march-2023/deaths-of-offenders-in-the-community-annual-update-to-march-2023
*** https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2022/07/Suicide-and-self-harm-staff-experiences-v1.0.pdf

Before the part you quoted, Article 2 says: "genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group". So, as discriminatory as these actions are, they do not meet the definition of genocide. I could mention some times in the past when genocide has been an issue, but I'm not going to compare this to those events. There is no protection in law in any part of the UK against discrimination on the basis of having a criminal record of any type for any offence or offences. Sadly.

Of course, the system should be more sympathetic and supportive towards your situation. After all, they are required to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate any person who has a disability. A disability is defined by the Equality Act 2010 as follows:

"(1)A person (P) has a disability if—(a)P has a physical or mental impairment, and(b)the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on P's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities", which probably means you are included. Maybe that would be a better line of approach.

Yes true, although there are definitions of genocide that are more 'flexibly' worded than the United Nations definition. I take the points raised but fundamentally our approach to all offending but especially sex/violent offending needs to change to a more preventative model - by which I don't mean the current 'virtual home arrest' approach, but courses and professional assessment by independent practitioners who are not motivated by self protection or blanket overly harsh regulation [Offered by Lucy Faithful foundation but costing over £4k I believe]. Another way could be the government putting its money where its mouth is on rehabilitation by offering a form of indemnity to companies who employ offenders of all types - perhaps a bounty of £10k and/or a form of insurance to recompense for any proven issues. This would be far, far cheaper than constantly subjecting risky offenders to interrogation and 'live' risk assessment although these could run alongside if needed for that first year. I don't get the impression any organization including probation is remotely motivated to rehabilitee sex offenders (point noted about some believing this can never take place but would dispute it for offences like indecent images). For tax payer cost and efficiency alone, we need a much more positive system. I would estimate Kent Police have wasted around £500k over 6 years on my case. Preventing Human beings from working and social contact can drive the issues which sent them on a downwards spiral in the first place. I have been incredibly lucky, had support, and had some success on all fronts, but I shouldn't NEED luck to rehabilitate, thats supposed to be part of the Criminal Justice system, and thats what is missing. Of course all the money being spent on offender management and a LOT of benefits, is not being spent teaching our kids about the issue, or investigating harm against them.