Sharing Broken Lives : Crime and the Community: Who Cares?

Who Cares? The Criminal Justice Group in Oxford Diocese recently ran a day conference asking this precise question.  We all know that crime is a fact of life in every community but how can or should we respond as a society, as individuals and as people of faith living within specific communities?

The conference was chaired by His Honour Judge Anthony King and brought together people who work with victims and offenders in both the voluntary and statutory sectors in order to provide a long term perspective on offending. 

We looked at the social factors involved in precipitating and sustaining offending behaviour through custody and the re-settlement of offenders to the needs of victims. 

We explored ways in which individuals can make a positive contribution to the life of their community.  If you would like to explore these issues for yourself, links to relevant sites are given below.

Key note speakers were:

• Chief Inspector Dennis Evernden on Neighbourhood Policing.
• The Revd Allen Walker on his experience of being a community chaplain in Slough
• Mr Dan Hayes, former Head of Offender Management at Bullingdon Prison now working at the SE Regional Offender Management Office, on how Partnership Working contributes to the re-settlement of offenders.

Workshops included:

• The Positive Impact of Community Projects www.base33.org.uk and www.discoverydays.co.uk
• Victim Support and Witness Service
• Experiences of Young Offenders
• Prison Volunteering or local prison chaplaincy

The Rt. Revd. Alan Wilson, Bishop of Buckingham concluded the day by looking at the rise and fall of the penitentiary in the 19^th Century: this was an engineered social solution imposed on people and it did not work.  Bishop Alan concluded by reminding us that ‘Model solutions imposed from the outside don’t change lives for good as much as personal ones grown from the inside out: we need gardening as well as engineering.’  ‘Community is us’ and there are a lot of positive options for involvement.  How might I be involved and make a difference?

The Market Place provided opportunities to find out.  Organisations represented included:

Thames Valley Partnership; Restorative Justice; Victim support & Witness Service; Police Volunteer Network; National Youth Advocacy Service; Thames Valley Crimestoppers; Prison Fellowship. 

All these organisations have web sites that provide opportunities for volunteering.  The ‘What Can I Do?’ site also provides information about opportunities for volunteering in the criminal justice system with both government agencies and voluntary organisations.  Have a look.  You may be surprised at what you can do.

Diocese of Oxford
Criminal Justice Issues Group
June 2006