Criminals are allowed to work from home for community sentences, raising concerns about the effectiveness of rehabilitation and public safety.
London: Can you believe it? Criminals are now allowed to complete their community sentences from home! The Ministry of Justice revealed that last year, offenders logged over 540,000 hours on online courses instead of doing traditional community service.
This means that about 12% of all community sentences were served online. That’s like 68,000 days or 185 years of sentences just clicking away at home! It’s a bit wild, right?
Next year, the official watchdog will look into how effective these online courses really are for punishing and rehabilitating offenders. Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is pushing for a review of sentencing, especially with prisons getting overcrowded. They’re thinking about more house arrests and community punishments instead of sending people to jail.
It’s not just a one-off thing either. The Telegraph has been uncovering how many people across various sectors, including the police and NHS, are working from home. A senior probation insider mentioned that the effectiveness of unpaid work needs to be a priority if they want the public to trust the system.
When it comes to community sentences, offenders usually have to complete between 40 and 300 hours, depending on their crime. Last year, courts ordered over six million hours of unpaid work, but a good chunk of that didn’t get done. Out of the hours that were completed, 12% were spent on these online courses.
One expert pointed out that it’s pretty shocking that some offenders are just sitting at home clicking through web pages instead of doing real work. It feels unfair to victims and the community, who want to see actual efforts to make things right.
Some sources say these online courses are meant to help offenders with skills and literacy, but they’re also used when the weather’s bad or if someone can’t make it to their assigned work. It’s a mixed bag, really.
Another former prison governor stressed that the public expects real work from offenders, especially when there are so many areas in need of improvement. While some screen time is okay, it shouldn’t be the main focus of punishment.
Interestingly, during the pandemic, offenders were even allowed to make greeting cards and face coverings at home to help clear a backlog of community service work. Probation officers found this approach worked so well that they want to keep it going.
In response, the Ministry of Justice said that most unpaid work hours are still done in person, but they’ve allowed online courses since 2004 to help offenders get jobs and stay out of trouble.