richardjgarside.bsky.social
Richard Garside
@richardjgarside.bsky.social
1.1K followers 1.3K following 390 posts
Director @crimeandjustice | Law and justice | Materialist not idealist | Facts not feelings | My views, not my employer’s
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richardjgarside.bsky.social
Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 1d
🎯
robfordmancs.bsky.social
Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 1d
It is also deeply unhealthy to have local govts who don’t provide many visible/valuable services for most residents (because they lack the resources). Encourages distrust and populism - “what am I paying my council tax for? The council does nothing for me.”
stephenkb.bsky.social
Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 1d
Amazed this is still going ahead - basic and obvious problem is that essentially everything local government does now is for the poor. You can’t move it around without really hurting poor people somewhere!
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richardjgarside.bsky.social
Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 2d
“This is bonkers... The Sentencing Council has done good work in providing consistency even if it may not be perfect. The [Jenrick] proposal is the cheapest form of politics as he must know it is unimplementable”

www.theguardian.com/law/2025/oct...
Tory plan to scrap judge-led Sentencing Council criticised as ‘bonkers’
Ex-Conservative ministers denounce Robert Jenrick’s intention to abolish body that develops court guidelines
www.theguardian.com
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richardjgarside.bsky.social
Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 6d
Let’s not make the racism and misogyny uncovered by the BBC a case of a few ‘rotten apples’ in one police station in central London

There is a more general, and persistent, problem in policing

There are also many good police officers who will be horrified by the revelations
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richardjgarside.bsky.social
Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 12d
“Both politics and personal feelings don’t impinge scientific truths and that needs to be clearly understood”

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09...
Access Restricted
www.telegraph.co.uk
Reposted by Richard Garside
filiacharity.bsky.social
FiLiA @filiacharity.bsky.social · 25d
💥 #FiLiA2025 speaker news 💥

@jophoenix1.bsky.social Professor of Criminology, author & academic, who has researched sex, gender & justice for more than three decades. Former Trustee of @crimeandjustice.bsky.social

🎟️ filia.org.uk/tickets

#SexNotGender #Brighton #Sisterhood #Solidarity
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richardjgarside.bsky.social
Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 27d
www.itv.com/news/wales/2...
www.itv.com
richardjgarside.bsky.social
Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 28d
Important to keep the pressure up on the government on the scandalous #IPP sentence

Well done IPP Committee in Action

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crim...
UN to investigate ‘national scandal’ of prisoners trapped on IPP jail terms
Exclusive: A complaint being lodged with the UN claims IPP prisoners are being arbitrarily detained, as a bombshell letter proves David Lammy agrees the jail terms are a ‘grave injustice’
www.independent.co.uk
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richardjgarside.bsky.social
Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 29d
“He goes through cycles where he feels just utter despair and it's very hard for us to know how to comfort him, because it is a hopeless situation

“How do you keep somebody hopeful when there is no hope?”

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Lifelong sentences can be 'inhuman and degrading', campaigners warn
Concerns have been raised about how orders for lifelong restriction are being implemented in Scotland.
www.bbc.co.uk
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Reposted by Richard Garside
russellwebster.com
Russell Webster @russellwebster.com · Sep 9
A further update to the MoJ ministerial line up with Jake Richards & Baroness Levitt added as well as new Lord Chancellor/Justice Sec David Lammy www.russellwebster.com/the-new-just...
The new Justice Ministerial line-up
MoJ Ministerial Team updated 9 September 2025
www.russellwebster.com
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richardjgarside.bsky.social
Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · Sep 8
We’re currently recruiting for a policy and communications officer

Great job for the right candidate

On the downside, you’ll be working with me quite a bit of the time

www.charityjob.co.uk/jobs/centre-...
Policy and communications officer | Centre for Crime and Justice Studies | CharityJob
Apply now for Policy and communications officer. , £35,266 per year, find a career with meaning today
www.charityjob.co.uk
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richardjgarside.bsky.social
Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · Sep 1
I’ll be giving oral evidence to the ‪@houseoflords.parliament.uk‬ Justice and Home Affairs Committee tomorrow at 11.15 am on criminal justice electronic monitoring/tagging

Watch it here, if that’s what floats your boat

www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/...
Parliamentlive.tv
Justice and Home Affairs Committee
www.parliamentlive.tv
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richardjgarside.bsky.social
Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · Aug 29
Smart, self-critical and less patronising

Is it time for a rethink on the way criminal justice reformers do criminal justice reform?

My latest commentary on what’s what

www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/smart-self-c...
Smart, self-critical and less patronising | Centre for Crime and Justice Studies
www.crimeandjustice.org.uk
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richardjgarside.bsky.social
Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · Aug 13
“I am not soft on terrorism. But I am a strong believer that you have to know what it looks like”

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Peter Hain says UK government ‘digging itself into hole’ over Palestine Action
Peer opposed banning group and says fellow Labour peers and MPs are regretting proscription
www.theguardian.com
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richardjgarside.bsky.social
Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · Aug 7
“The approach in the Ministry of Justice, which oversees prisons policy, was to manage the crisis, doing ‘as little as possible as late as possible’.”

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The biggest problem for Starmer and co: the machinery of government is broken and they can’t fix it | Martin Kettle
The prisons crisis is symptomatic of a dysfunctional system that is defeating these ministers as badly as those before them, says Guardian columnist Martin Kettle
www.theguardian.com
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richardjgarside.bsky.social
Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · Aug 1
”Requiring prison officers to refer to male offenders as women shows how far an organisation whose core business is managing risk related to sex has lost sight of material reality”

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
I was sacked for refusing to call trans prisoners 'she', says officer
A prison custody officer who was sacked for saying he would not address male-born transgender inmates as 'she' or 'her' has launched legal action against one of the UK's largest security firms.
www.dailymail.co.uk
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richardjgarside.bsky.social
Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · Aug 1
“We are keen to continue working proactively and keep abreast of any new developments that can assist in our mission to investigate miscarriages of justice”

ccrc.gov.uk/news/ccrc-la...
CCRC launches new project to investigate IPP/DPP sentences imposed on young people  - Criminal Cases Review Commission
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has instigated a review of historic applications to review IPPs or DPPs imposed on young adults and juvenile offenders.
ccrc.gov.uk
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richardjgarside.bsky.social
Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · Jul 29
“One woman has said she was raped from the age of 12 by a serving officer in a marked police car and that he threatened to give her back to the grooming gang if she did not comply”

www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...
Rotherham grooming gang victims ‘were also abused by police’
One woman who was abused by hundreds of men walked into a police interview only to be confronted by an officer she says had raped her since the age of 12
www.thetimes.com
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richardjgarside.bsky.social
Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · Jul 29
“Many of the men who claimed to be protesting about the savage murders of three little girls at a dance class in Southport had themselves been accused of attacking women... The link between private and public violence has never been clearer”

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Domestic abuse and public violence: will the state now accept the two go hand in hand? | Joan Smith
Many men arrested in disorder after the Southport murders had themselves been accused of attacking women. It’s high time police acted on these red flags, says author Joan Smith
www.theguardian.com
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richardjgarside.bsky.social
Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · Jul 27
Colour me shocked

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Two in five arrested for last summer’s UK riots had been reported for domestic abuse
Police data indicates overlaps between public violent disorder and domestic violence and abuse
www.theguardian.com
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richardjgarside.bsky.social
Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · Jul 24
Latest crime statistics for England and Wales are released today by the Office for National Statistics

I'll be discussing them at 9.45 am this morning on Times Radio

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...
Crime in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics
Crime against households and people aged 16 years and over, using data from police recorded crime and the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW).
www.ons.gov.uk
Reposted by Richard Garside
crimeandjustice.bsky.social
Centre for Crime and Justice Studies @crimeandjustice.bsky.social · Jul 21
Smaller, but tougher

Our new report, out today, reveals that fewer young adults are being sent to prison than a decade ago, but those who are imprisoned are getting much longer sentences

#SmallerButTougher
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richardjgarside.bsky.social
Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · Jul 18
“The situation at Pentonville reflects many of the issues our members are experiencing across the country. Overcrowding, understaffing, a squalid prison estate and poor leadership are indicative of a prison system in crisis”

www.poauk.org.uk/news-events/...
PR 285: HMP PENTONVILLE INSPECTION REPORT EXPOSES THE CRISIS IN THE UK’S JAILS SAYS UNION | The POA
www.poauk.org.uk
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richardjgarside.bsky.social
Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · Jul 11
Interesting new research out in the British Journal of Criminology

Homicides in El Salvador rose when tough on crime policies were pursued, and fell when policies based on truces and negotiation with and between gangs were followed

academic.oup.com/bjc/advance-...
Mano Dura v. Uneasy Peace in El Salvador: Effects of Tough-on-Crime and Gang Truce Policies in the Former Murder Capital of the World
Abstract. Until recently, El Salvador had one of the world’s highest homicide rates, largely driven by criminal groups. Since 2003, the government attempte
academic.oup.com
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Reposted by Richard Garside
crimeandjustice.bsky.social
Centre for Crime and Justice Studies @crimeandjustice.bsky.social · Jul 10
We have now published all the commended essays (and the winner) of the inaugural Mike Guilfoyle Essay Prize. The annual competition, run with @napotheunion.bsky.social , honours Mike’s memory by encouraging reflections on all that is valuable and important in probation.
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richardjgarside.bsky.social
Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · Jul 7
“I recently met a young man in a Midlands prison who... has spent more than half his life in prison... He was released a couple of years ago, only to be recalled to custody... for being late to probation appointments, which clashed with his employment”

www.independent.co.uk/voices/lord-...
Thousands are in prison under IPP sentencing – it brings shame upon our legal system
Lord Woodley is right that it’s time IPP prisoners were released, writes Andrea Coomber, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform – but his intervention won’t change the government’s mind
www.independent.co.uk