Today User Voice submitted the response to the Ministry of Justice's (MoJ) Green Paper, Breaking the Cycle, from two focus groups held with young people and adults with personal experience of the criminal justice system. The consultations were sponsored by The Ministry of Justice, who recognised the importance of consulting with people with personal experience of the system and the unique ability of User Voice to gain insight from this group.
Participants were asked to respond to a number of questions contained in the Green Paper that were of direct relevance to their own personal experience, categorised under the following headings: punishment and payback, sentencing, working with communities to reduce crime and rehabilitating offenders to reduce crime.
The two focus groups included people from a range of ages, ethnicities, from different areas of the country and from academics and professionals, to those just out of prison and others who are currently on orders.
The submission can be downloaded here.