Royal Commission needed to rethink penal policy, report argues

Only a Royal Commission can fix the "dangerously dysfunctional" penal system in the UK, according to a new report by leading figures Sir Louis Blom-Cooper QC and Professor Seán McConville.

In The Case for a Royal Commission, the authors contend that penal policy no longer serves the public interest and ignores evidence of falling crime rates.

Published today, the report makes the case that policy based on evidence cannot compete with the fiercely partisan nature of current political debate, and "a media diet of hard cases and spurious campaigns".

Professor McConville, expert in penal policy and Professor of Law at Queen Mary University of London, commented: “Our politicians cannot deal with penal policy in a rational way. Evidence-based discussions fall victim to partisan rants, rituals of finger pointing and recurrent spirals of dishonesty.”

He added: “Regardless of where one stands as to the usefulness of incarceration, we must at least ensure that it is used in accordance with evidence of effectiveness. In the years between 1992-2013 the incarceration rate in England & Wales increased from 90 to 148 prisoners per 100,000 of population –despite falling crime rates during the same period. Those who do go to prison will also remain there for much longer than was the case in 1992. This counterfactual trend is extraordinarily expensive, since imprisonment costs between £35,000 and £40,000 per inmate per year.”

While the authors accept that the appetite for costly, lengthy and unwieldy inquiries is limited, they argue that an effective investigation could take place to satisfy both the public mood and the constrained national purse, with tight terms of reference and an experienced chair, "a non-negotiable two-year delivery time", limited taking of verbal evidence and no expensive and time-consuming visits of inspection and overseas trips. Only those with "unquestionable expertise or direct experience" would be allowed to present evidence.

Sir Louis, a prominent barrister, academic and author, added: “We accept that politicians find themselves in a policy bind, from which there is no electable escape. Thus we offer the solution of an independent Royal Commission, which should be formed by cross-party agreement immediately following the next general election.”

The report is published by Waterside Press.