Monthly Archives: March 2009
To Vote or Not to Vote: Prison Reform Trust lodges a formal complaint with the Council of Europe
So UK prisoners still aren’t allowed to vote. England is one of the last remaining countries in the EU to deny them the right, and the Prison Reform Trust has lodged a formal complaint with the Council of Europe, the … Continue reading
Filed under Crime and Justice, Human Rights
US Police Brutality Caught On Camera: Victim speaks out on CBS News
I first saw this nasty little film when the Mirror’s crime correspondent Jon Clements recently blogged about the story. Now doing the youtube rounds, the film shows two male officers at a US police station launching a pretty brutal attack on a … Continue reading
Filed under Crime and Justice, Freedom, Human Rights
Baby P, Baby D and Baby B: Do the ‘governor’s eyebrows’ hold the key?
In the wake of Haringey’s Baby P scandal, social workers were heavily criticised en mass and those directly involved with the child’s case were vilified. Nobody could understand why action wasn’t taken, especially when another baby, named in the press … Continue reading
Death Penalty Numbers Rise as Support Falls: Where does Libby Purves stand on it?
New reports reveal that, although there has been a trend against the death penalty in recent years, more executions than ever were carried out last year. Personally, I’m strongly against the death penalty, no matter the case. Not because there … Continue reading
Filed under Crime and Justice
‘Josef Fritzl Musical’. No, really. Thin line between comedy and tragedy? Or something more sinister?
From Myra Hindley paintings, to serial killer fancy dress and Fred and Rose holiday reading – gruesome crimes disgust and fascinate, in almost equal measures. Confronting something so hideous, and so far outside the parameters of our own lives, allows … Continue reading
Filed under Crime and Justice
Locked Up Potential: Former minister and prisoner Jonathan Aitken publishes new report on prison reform
Ex tory minister Jonathan Aitken, who spent seven months in Belmarsh for perjury, has written a new report on prison reform. The report was published today by the think tank the Centre for Social Justice. Among its suggested reforms are: … Continue reading
Filed under Crime and Justice
Stranger in Danger: Would you step in to save a stranger?
A recent report revealed that British people are the least likely of all Europeans to step in if we witness a stranger being attacked. An article published in the Independent this weekend, along these very lines, parallels a story I … Continue reading
Filed under Crime and Justice, Freedom
Pimlico Opera Update
Following a run of West Side Story at Wandsworth prison, governor Ian Mulholland has agreed Pimlico Opera will stage another performance at the prison next year. This is great news, especially after Jack Straw ran screaming from the tabloid press … Continue reading
Filed under Art, Crime and Justice
I Smell A Rat: Why Violent Video Games Didn’t Cause Columbine or Albertville shootings
Following the Columbine massacre, much was made in the press of the fact that Eric Harris, one of the teenage gunmen, was an avid fan of a violent computer game, Doom. Out came the hockey moms united, with their pickets, … Continue reading
Filed under Justice
