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The Ripple Effect of Crime

The Ripple Effect of Crime

by | Feb 3, 2015 | News, News | 0 comments

I was lucky to catch Ray & Vi Donovan speak at a session held by at the Sutton Youth Centre this week. Ray & Vi set up the Chris Donovan Trust in memory of their son who was senselessly and brutally killed in 2001. Eleven years later they came face to face with the three young men who had been convicted of Chris’ murder. Ray & Vi’s retelling of the story was understandably raw and emotional as if it happened yesterday. Despite recounting their experience in prisons up and down the country, the audience could see the lasting hole in their life as a result of that evening 14 years ago, an evening made up of random chance decisions that set Chris walking up the pavement into the path of a 14-strong gang off their faces on drink and drugs and seeing Chris and his brother as an easy target for the violent acts that ensued.

The young people at the Youth Centre sat transfixed for an hour as they heard of the Donovan’s helplessness at the hospital, their anguish to hear that not only had their son died but his body was now the property of the coroner. Just as it seemed as it couldn’t get any worse, they discovered that they couldn’t bury Chris for another few weeks as the pathologist had to remove his brain to examine a particular enzyme to determine the exact cause of death. These months of hell would not have even entered the heads of the young men who stamped on Chris repeatedly and left him in the road to be run over by a car and carried forty feet. The years of prison and the effective removal of the remainder of their own teen years and twenties didn’t feature in their decision to run away shouting, “Leave him” after a neighbour had alerted the police.

Ray & Vi now travel around the country speaking about the benefits of restorative justice, a system designed to put the victim first. They met their son’s killers after they were released from prison, so having no effect on the length of the sentence. As well as giving them a sense of closure, their meetings with each of the killers gave those young men a chance to realise the effect of their crime, have an outlet for their remorse and start on a path of rehabilitation. Sentencing must always have an element of punishment but spending £40,000 each year per prisoner to lock them away from the world repeatedly after reoffending is impractical. The sensible long term approach must be to help prisoners turn their lives around through rehabilitation whilst serving the sentence that people would expect for the crime committed. It’s sensible that the government have made funding available to Police & Crime Commissioners to help deliver restorative justice over three years. Of course Ray & Vi’s work goes further than promoting restorative justice. The powerful retelling of their harrowing experience will surely have an effect on young people who may find themselves being pushed into joining a gang or committing a crime. They are constantly reminding people of the consequences of their actions beyond the intended victim; the ripple effect of their crime.

Green Waste Collection Tax

Green Waste Collection Tax

by | Sep 20, 2014 | News | 2 comments

Sutton Council has proposed the introduction of a charge for green garden waste collection. If that sounds familiar, that’s because the council performed a screeching U-turn back in 2008 when they brought in a £35 charge which they scrapped in a carefully orchestrated move just a few months later when residents complained. That whole process cost about £176,000.

You have to admire their chutzpah. Their collective memories having been selectively wiped, the garden waste tax is due to make a come back at £59pa, nearly 70% higher than their last attempt. This time, if residents don’t like it, they’ll scrap the service altogether.

If you’re interested in finding our more about the 2008 debacle, have a look at what I wrote six years ago when I was Leader of the Opposition on the council here, here and here.

As for now, if you want to keep the free service let me know. It is only by the many speaking with one single, clear voice that we can make the council listen. The fact that such a high proportion of the councillors in Sutton are from the Liberal Democrats means they feel emboldened and able to make decisions that they know will be unpopular.

It’s true that many residents in Sutton don’t use the service with flat owners being the obvious ones. However for many others, the waste collection services are all the engagement with the council that they notice despite paying up to £2879 a year in council tax. Hard decisions have to be made in councils up and down the land however there is still plenty more that can be done before slashing services. Zero-based budgeting where each department starts from zero and works out what it needs rather than just putting a percentage increase/decrease onto last year’s figures is a good start. Adult Social Services, which happens to have the Council’s biggest budget persistently under spends its annual budget by a good few million pounds but those millions remain on the following year’s budget. We still have the Sutton Life Centre leeching a quarter of a million pounds of taxpayers’ money and a bandstand erected in the grounds of Wallington Library that is an inappropriate size to be used properly with no musical programme arranged.

Councillors in Sutton need to be scrutinised more than ever. The Conservative group are doing an excellent job which doesn’t always get reported but they need your help. The service reviews such as the green garden tax and the closure of the theatres are based apparently on the Local Government Finance settlement made last December. The council has had nine months to consider the implications. Rather than having an open and frank debate with residents throughout the local election campaign, they are moving with undue haste on each of these matters after they have secured another four years of power. They can’t be allowed to get away with that unchallenged.