Quakers in Criminal Justice

Winter 2021 Newsletter Download PDF

Editorial

First and foremost let me apologise for the late arrival of this Winter edition of the newsletter. Due to staff shortages in my own organisation I've been holding down the “housing advice for prisoner's” fort at multiple prisons instead of just my usual one, so many things have been postponed a little including the newsletter.

That being said I hope you will agree that it has been worth the extra month's wait. After a last minute call for articles, I was inundated once again by your generosity and in the end I had too many (once more) to print in a single edition.

When I read the submissions, I'm always impressed by the breadth of involvement our members have, in a positive way, in the field of Criminal Justice. For a small Quaker and Quaker adjacent gang, we are certainly very active and engaged.

Melanie deserves a special mention this edition for her multiple submissions all of which are very worthwhile reading. These include information on the Justice Interim Group and also the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (It should be noted that she sat through the entire 6.5 hour 2nd Reading in the House of Lords. Now if that isn't dedication I don't know what is!!!)

There is more information on the QICJ Conference 2022 which is being held in person at Ammerdown. So far we have had good interest and responses from those planning to attend, but we need to get figures finalised fairly soon. So the committee would really appreciate it if you could complete and return the short form on page 9 (just print off the page and send it to Simon via email or snail-mail). Alternatively contact Simon and he can guide you through the application.

Once again a big thank you to all our contributors and just to say it is never too early to start sending me stuff for the Spring edition :-)

Jonathan Lamb
Editor

PS I have also attach an update form the Quaker Decriminalisation Network which I wasn't able to fit into the newsletter, but which I know people (particularly those who attended our 2019 conference) will be interested in reading.

Also in this edition