Raising our ambitions
With the UK’s justice system on the brink, the need for change is clear.
Neglected and overcrowded jails are plagued by drugs and violence, hosting a prison population that’s doubled in the last 30 years to become the biggest, per capita, in Western Europe. Sky-high reoffending costs £18 billion a year while many communities – often in poorer areas – suffer daily from crime and anti-social behaviour.
Amid a record-high court backlog, public trust and confidence in the criminal justice system is rock bottom: only 10% of victims believe that it is effective. Crime was a key issue at the last election, leading the new government to make ‘safer streets’ one of its core missions.
With prisons full, the conversation has become one of crisis aversion. But what if we set our sights higher? What if we instead aimed for a modern, world-class justice system fit for the 21st Century?
£18 billion
annual cost of reoffending.²
90%
of victims don’t think the criminal justice system is effective.¹
3x
more likely to be a victim of violent crime in poorer areas.³
¹ Victims Commissioner, 2023
² Ministry of Justice, 2023
³ Civitas, 2018
“Prisons are fundamentally unjust... they do nothing to help people out of crime.”
“We have a feeble, liberal system which makes excuses for wrongdoing and does not really believe in punishment.”
Breaking through the noise
The UK’s debate on crime and punishment is noisy and polarised. ‘Tough-on-crime’ narratives dominate the media, arguments for liberal reforms appear detached from public opinion, while politicians, wary of a press and voter backlash, steer clear of significant policy change.
This backdrop leaves very little space for change, sustaining a system that’s letting down victims, people who commit crimes and the wider public.
Common Ground Justice is breaking through the noise to find common ground. By engaging local communities affected, in different ways, by the realities of crime, we’ll discover the path to a better system – one that serves all of society.
Uncovering common ground
Research suggests that public opinion on crime and punishment may be more complex than implied by media headlines. Surveys find that while people favour longer sentences for serious offences, they also recognise social and economic factors driving crime, and support second chances (CJI, 2024).
This potential common ground for new thinking, however, is drowned out by the extremes of a fractured debate: ‘tough’ vs ‘soft’ justice, punishment vs rehabilitation. People most affected by the issues – victims, people in prison, residents in high-crime areas – are not being heard. These groups, who often overlap, are also likely to be from lower-income backgrounds that are underrepresented in policymaking, the media and charity sector.
A new way forward
By convening difficult conversations with people closest to the issues across the country, we’ll foster a more constructive conversation on crime. Together we’ll discover the common ground for a new way forward on criminal justice.
We’re launching a pilot in 2025 to test this concept, illuminating the path to a smarter, more thoughtful justice system that delivers for victims, cuts crime and creates safer communities for all.