Criminal Justice
Summary
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The criminal justice system in the UK contains a number of structural issues, which lead to higher long-term offending rates. Stability in accommodation is strongly correlated with improved outcomes.
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Commonweal seeks to address the current challenges prison leavers face accessing stable housing and suitable support, including limited longer-term accommodation options, a shortage of supported housing for those with complex needs and insufficient support for women.
Homelessness and involvement with the criminal justice system are interlinked. According to the Ministry of Justice, people leaving prison without settled accommodation are around 50% more likely to commit further crimes than those with stable accommodation.
Yet too many are still released homeless or into insecure housing or can find themselves homeless after short-term accommodation.
A significant number of people enter prison directly from homelessness. Furthermore, a prison sentence itself can create conditions which increase the likelihood of becoming homeless, which in turn can increase the likelihood of reoffending.
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Key Statistics
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Recent data shows that people who left prison without accommodation in 2022 had almost double the proven reoffending rate of those who had somewhere to live.
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In the year ending March 2024, 45.4% of prison leavers were released into settled accommodation; 11.9% were released to rough sleeping;
24.7% into probation accommodation, 13.7% into other housing, such as temporary or B&B; with the rest either homeless but not rough sleeping or not known.​
The shocking numbers of people leaving prison homeless has led to the issue of homelessness and people in contact with the criminal justice system rising up the political agenda in recent years and there have been a number of initiatives introduced as a result.
Featured Housing Project:
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Supported mothers experienced more stable transitions out of prison. Only 10% of women supported by the project reoffended, against a national average of 20-25%.
Featured Research:
STOP THE TRAFFIK 2024
A study on the exploitation of Romanian and Albanian nationals in Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea, and Westminster, and links to their housing situations.
“The criminal justice system has been a longstanding focus of Commonweal’s efforts since our inception. It is a symptom of, but more disproportionately a driver of too much social injustice. As a system it simply doesn’t do what we need it to by way of deterring crime or, importantly, rehabilitating individuals and reducing reoffending.
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Commonweal’s sixteen plus year support for projects operating around the criminal justice system has enabled us to witness, alongside project partners, the crucial role housing plays in helping those released from prison rebuild their lives."
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Ashley Horsey, Commonweal CEO