Archive for the ‘Crime’ tag
Family Intervention Projects
During the last two decades, members of the Walker family, in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, had been causing trouble for their neighbours, the council, the police and local schools. But because the issues were dealt with by separate agencies, nobody fully appreciated the cumulative impact the family was having.
“Lots had been spent [to sort things out], but none of it was joined-up or co-ordinated”, says Keith Aubrey, Melton borough council’s corporate director of community support. “As a result, we didn’t realise how big the file on the family was.”
It turned out that in one year up to 60 repairs were needed to the nine-strong family’s council house; complaints led to neighbourhood officers being called out twice a week; unpaid debts ended up in court; and the local headteacher was battling to get the children on the “straight and narrow”. But after 15 months on one of the government’s Family Intervention Projects (FIPs), the Walkers have been transformed.
Brought to restorative justice
An imam and prison chaplain who draws on the story of Joseph is helping inmates comprehend how their crimes affect victims
Robert Bullard The Guardian, Wednesday March 5 2008
Soon after Mohamed el Sharkawy, an imam, was appointed chaplain of the Mount prison in Hertfordshire, inmates from several different religions started to approach him. “They felt the prison’s justice awareness course imposed Christianity upon them,” he says. “I told them it wasn’t true. But I believe we need to work together if we are to strengthen our society. So I started to develop a course to help them, using the story of Joseph, because it was mentioned in the Torah, the Bible and the Qur’an.”
The Mount is a category D establishment for low-risk prisoners. Of the 750 or so inmates, 60% are from ethnic minorities, and 51% are non-Christians. The story of Joseph – his imprisonment, release, forgiveness and reconciliation with his family – was one the inmates knew and could relate to, explains Egyptian-born El Sharkawy. “Joseph uses his time in prison, and when he leaves he applies for the highest position. He did not bow his head because he was a prisoner.”
