There is a patch of private land on Beverley Road in Hull where I recall a building once stood until the bulldozers moved in. Unfenced it became something of a rubbish dump. One day I saw several youngsters wearing the bright, distinctive branding "Community Payback" on the back of their orange jackets clearing up the rubbish. Today, I noticed boarding going up and a large sign advertising the firm undertaking the building project for a private industry.
WTF has this to do with paying back the community when the offenders are abused for private purpose?
5 comments:
Am I in a minority of one in thinking the ritual humiliation orange jackets saying COMMUNITY PAYBACK is a really dumb idea???
Probably.
WR: No, I agree. This is not what was meant with justice being seen to be done. It was hijacked for a cheap political point.
I agree with you on this. I am all for offenders giving back to the community instead of wasting tax payers money to pay for a room at HMP. A group of 'community payback' lads were recently working on an elderley home, run by the council, near where I live not long ago and I'm all for that. But to be exploited for private purpose is just wrong in my eyes.
In some ways it's difficult to comment having never seen the rubbish site, the community payback orange jackets or the development site.
However, another perspective on this community payback programme could be as follows.
Community payback individuals clear the rubbish from the site. The orange jackets help to publicise the community payback.
It's hard to see how the stigma of wearing an orange jacket while clearing rubbish could be worse than, say, the stigma of a prison sentence. Is there a better way of publicising the community payback work?
Might the community payback individuals have taken some pride in clearing the site and learned some new skills - however basic?
Presumably, the site looks more appealing for the whole community after the rubbish has been cleared - including for the private developer.
The developer therefore risks its capital to develop the site - perhaps having overlooked it when it was covered in rubbish. The job sustains the developer's employees' jobs and perhaps creates new jobs.
The developer probably pays taxes as an employer and on any profit it makes on the development, potentially further benefiting the community.
Wouldn't seeing a load of rubbish cleared increase the public's confidence in community payback sentences as an alternative to expensive - and often ineffective - prison sentences?
Seen in this light, perhaps this community payback programme could be nominated for an award in the Howard League's Community Programme Awards later this year. Why not nominate this programme or one you think might be better at http://www.howardleague.org/community-programmes-award/
i have to talk from the other side i have recently been issued 100 hours to do community payback i am currently painting fences. it is in way a punishment how is this a reabilitation its a farce i have witnessed sniffed the use of drugs wittnessed the passing of numbers for drug deals and been told how chemists are the main target for extra money if you know what to steal, the kids i am working with think this a complete joke and dont seem to care, i believe it shoulfd be some form of boot camp we do a six hour day and are lucky if we work 2 hours and 20 mins a day
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