Do you want to discuss boring politics? (15 Viewers)

chiefdave

Well-Known Member
Another glorious day for the Met. In shocking news eyewitness reports don't match up with the Mets version of events with people saying the dogs were not acting aggressively

 

Brighton Sky Blue

Well-Known Member
But PVA as someone whose apparently gone to one of the top 10 universities in the UK - something very few - if any other forum member - can boast then surely we would expect far more gravitas

We are mere mortals that wait for your in depth political analysis

Why do you keep us waiting?

I’ve been to two of them, what’s my prize?
 

skybluetony176

Well-Known Member
John Major goes fully woke ;)


He has a point. Prison’s are beyond full. The current backlog in court cases actually suits the government because if they caught up they’d be nowhere to put them. To put that in some sort of perspective at the end of last year the backlog for serious cases alone was 62,000. There aren’t 62,000 prison places available, current capacity is about 82,000. To put it in further perspective the government’s target to cut the backlog is by about 10,000 by 2025 leaving a backlog of 52000. By contrast they plan to expand prison places by just 4,000 in the same period in England and Wales which will actually give the UK the highest prison population ever if they reach their targets. That’s some legacy that the Tories will be leaving, the party of law and order my arse.
 

Sky Blue Pete

Well-Known Member
He has a point. Prison’s are beyond full. The current backlog in court cases actually suits the government because if they caught up they’d be nowhere to put them. To put that in some sort of perspective at the end of last year the backlog for serious cases alone was 62,000. There aren’t 62,000 prison places available, current capacity is about 82,000. To put in further perspective the government’s target to cut the backlog is by about 10,000 by 2025 leaving a backlog of 52000. By contrast they plan to expand prison places by just 4,000 in the same period in England and Wales which will actually give the UK the highest prison population ever if they reach their targets. That’s some legacy that the Tories will be leaving, the party of law and order my arse.
He’s absolutely right
 

skybluetony176

Well-Known Member
He’s absolutely right
There’s tons of prisoners that aren’t a danger to society, more likely to be a danger to themselves. Released with the correct care especially for addiction and mental health and the majority won’t reoffend. But there lies the next issue. Austerity made sure that those systems either aren’t in place anymore or are failing because they’re overloaded. So it suits the government to keep them in because it they do release them without that support they’ll either be recalled in which case there’s no point releasing them in the first place or if their license expires it won’t be long until they’re adding to the already massive backlog of court cases. We’re in such a mess.
 

CCFCSteve

Well-Known Member
He has a point. Prison’s are beyond full. The current backlog in court cases actually suits the government because if they caught up they’d be nowhere to put them. To put that in some sort of perspective at the end of last year the backlog for serious cases alone was 62,000. There aren’t 62,000 prison places available, current capacity is about 82,000. To put it in further perspective the government’s target to cut the backlog is by about 10,000 by 2025 leaving a backlog of 52000. By contrast they plan to expand prison places by just 4,000 in the same period in England and Wales which will actually give the UK the highest prison population ever if they reach their targets. That’s some legacy that the Tories will be leaving, the party of law and order my arse.

Decriminalise certain drugs and related drug crimes and it would probably free half the places up
 

Sky_Blue_Dreamer

Well-Known Member
There’s tons of prisoners that aren’t a danger to society, more likely to be a danger to themselves. Released with the correct care especially for addiction and mental health and the majority won’t reoffend. But there lies the next issue. Austerity made sure that those systems either aren’t in place anymore or are failing because they’re overloaded. So it suits the government to keep them in because it they do release them without that support they’ll either be recalled in which case there’s no point releasing them in the first place or if their license expires it won’t be long until they’re adding to the already massive backlog of court cases. We’re in such a mess.
Big C Conservatives can't see the nuance though.

They think criminals should be locked up. Regardless of whether they're a danger to society in general or the reason for them being a criminal, they should be in jail, even though evidence suggests that in many cases it's more likely to lead to people becoming entrenched in that cycle if they spend time in prison. Meanwhile, providing support etc. for those with mental health/addiction issues etc. is being a bleeding heart liberal and wasting taxpayers resources. Wouldn't surprise if quite a few felt that such problems didn't actually exist and it was jut snowflakes making excuses, and they should just buck their ideas up and sort themselves out.

Makes me both angry and sad that attitude prevents people getting help and actually makes things a lot, lot worse.
 

skybluetony176

Well-Known Member
Decriminalise certain drugs and related drug crimes and it would probably free half the places up
It’s time to have a proper look at legalising cannabis. It’s been done in enough countries now to be able to take an educated view. License the growing and selling of it and get tax revenue, control which cannabis is being grown etc etc. Makes perfect sense to me, it’s no more dangerous than alcohol, in fact it’s significantly safer.
 

Sky Blue Pete

Well-Known Member
Saw a graph from the US showing basically an inverse relationship between declining mental institution numbers and increasing prison numbers. Even if they can’t go out a more psychology focused approach would be best for a lot of offenders. Costs though.
Less than £40k a year to lock them up
 

skybluetony176

Well-Known Member
Here’s a good article on the cost to the economy from mental health issues. Spoiler alert, around 75% of that cost is lost productivity of people dealing with mental health issues. The arguments for investing in mental health care are broad and multifaceted. It’s not just about the prison population. In fact it’s only a small part of the bigger issue.

 

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