Investing in People, Not Punishment, in The Criminal Justice System
- Niamh Gregory Manning
- 1 hour ago
- 6 min read
I’m Niamh, a Psychology and Neuroscience MSc student at King’s College London and a Senior Practitioner in a commissioned rehabilitative service within His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service in London.
I am passionate about mental health and challenging the systemic barriers that prevent marginalised groups from accessing support. I hope this brief article encourages you to rethink the narratives we hold about crime, rehabilitation and the people whose lives are shaped most profoundly by these systems.
You are at home, winding down for the evening, when you hear a violent crack behind the plasterboard. A pipe bursts. Within seconds, water is pouring across the floor, soaking the carpet and creeping under the furniture. Instinct takes over. You start dragging things out of the way, grabbing bowls, calling for help and trying to contain the chaos as it spreads around you.
Or you could walk downstairs and turn off the mains.
If I am being honest, I would probably spend a few frantic moments doing the first option before even remembering the second. Most of us would. But we all know which one actually stops the flood.
This is a simple illustration of the Smoke Detector Effect in psychology. Our minds are built to react quickly and loudly to signs of danger, even when the real solution lies in addressing the underlying cause rather than the noise it creates. We panic at the symptoms and overlook the structure that produced them.
And this is exactly where we find ourselves in the UK today. Crime and personal safety feel like growing concerns, yet the policies shaping our justice system are moving in the opposite direction of what communities may actually need. We are pouring our energy into reacting to the alarms, the headlines, the fear, and the political rhetoric, instead of fixing the structural issues that drive harm in the first place.
The media plays a significant role in shaping this sense of rising threat, with outlets such as the Daily Mail referring to “no‑go neighbourhoods” and a “crime wave” in London. Whether this framing reflects reality or leans into dramatisation is a debate in itself. Nonetheless, it is an influential topic and can be drawn into political debate to reinforce particular narratives.
Yet, recent government policy does not reflect the level of concern portrayed in the media. England and Wales are set to cut education and rehabilitation services in prisons by up to 50%, despite ongoing issues around reoffending and community safety.
These cuts reflect the way we view people in the criminal justice system and show a lack of understanding of the complex steps that lead someone to commit crime and the factors that contribute to their reoffending. I would argue that poor mental health plays a major role. Higher rates of mental health difficulties have been documented before entering the criminal justice system, during imprisonment and after release, compared with the general population.
It is important to recognise that this discrepancy should never diminish accountability for harmful actions, but it may strengthen the case for a justice system built on rehabilitation rather than punishment alone.
Mental Health in The Criminal Justice System
People entering the criminal justice system have consistently been found to have poorer mental health profiles. It is difficult to find data that fully captures this before contact with the system, but it raises an important question about how unsupported mental health difficulties can lead people down a harmful path. Naturally, this path can become cyclical if there is no intervention. If someone is already predisposed to poor mental health and enters a system that works against them, their likelihood of rehabilitation is low.
Recent estimates suggest that nine out of ten prisoners have at least one mental health or substance misuse problem. Yet only one in seven people in prison are receiving mental health support while incarcerated. These figures come from 2023, so with the recent cuts to rehabilitation and education services, this disparity is likely to worsen. Altogether, this highlights the importance of addressing the mental health needs of people in the criminal justice system, both during their sentence and as they return to the community.
The Importance of Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation is one of the five statutory purposes of sentencing, as set out in section 57 of the Sentencing Act 2020. Post‑sentence supervision and license conditions, which are the rules people must follow after release (such as attending appointments or engaging in support services) are designed to support rehabilitation and help people reintegrate safely into the community. A recent 2025 report found that access to health and wellbeing services in prison, and continued support in the community, is directly linked to better rehabilitation outcomes.
A key point is that services do not need to explicitly target mental health to contribute meaningfully to rehabilitation. This includes interventions that focus on upskilling, education and providing a sense of purpose, all of which can support a person’s wellbeing. The report emphasises that bringing these different forms of support together is essential for reducing reoffending.
The Good Lives Model (GLM) is a strengths‑based theory of rehabilitation which argues that people are more likely to desist from crime when they are supported to achieve personally meaningful and socially constructive goals. It proposes that people strive to achieve certain core values, or primary goods, which are essential for a fulfilling and prosocial life.
The GLM helps us understand how unmet psychological needs, social exclusion and environmental pressures can drive offending. Poor mental health can impair decision making, emotional regulation and the ability to pursue these goods in healthy ways. From this perspective, crime is not simply a personal failing but often a reflection of unmet needs and structural disadvantage. Rehabilitation that addresses mental health concerns, whether directly through clinical support or indirectly through access to meaningful activities, relationships and stability, helps individuals meet these goods in prosocial ways and reduces the likelihood of reoffending.
Investing in Rehabilitation is Investing in a Better Society
Countries with the lowest crime and reoffending rates share a common feature: they invest heavily in rehabilitation that focuses on reintegration, wellbeing and mental health. In 2019, the BBC reported on Norway’s rehabilitative model, noting that a system once centred on punishment had been redesigned to minimise the sense of incarceration, reduce psychological stress and create an environment that supports personal growth. They reported that “Recidivism has fallen to 20 percent after two years… in the UK it’s almost 50 percent after one year.”
This comparison illustrates the impact that a rehabilitative, humane system can have on long‑term outcomes. While Norway’s model cannot be transplanted directly into the UK without wider structural reform, it demonstrates the value of investing in approaches that prioritise mental health. Adopting elements of this philosophy could lead to significant benefits for individuals and for society as a whole.
Evidence consistently shows that people who leave the criminal justice system with support, skills and improved wellbeing are far more likely to contribute positively to their communities. This is not only socially beneficial but also economically sensible.
The most recent government data shows that it costs just under £51,108 per year to keep one person in prison in England and Wales, and the prison population is projected to reach a central estimate of 100,800 by March 2029. Norway, by comparison, has a prison population of around 3,000 people and is estimated to spend between £73,000 and £100,000 per prisoner each year. Although this investment is higher, it is associated with far lower reoffending rates and a much smaller prison system overall, meaning rehabilitation‑focused approaches become more economically advantageous in the long term and allow public funds to be redirected into other vital areas.
Investing in People, Not Punishment
I was taken aback by the sense of hopelessness many people in the criminal justice system feel when returning to the community. It often comes through in comments like, “I may as well go back to prison, there’s nothing for me out here.”
This attitude could be understood as a reflection of a system that, in many cases, does not provide people with the tools to succeed, leaving them feeling unsupported.
When we look past the sensationalist headlines, it becomes clear that the real issues lie not in fear‑driven narratives but in the structural barriers that prevent people from rebuilding their lives. If we want a safer and more compassionate society, we need to address those barriers directly.
It is no different from responding to a smoke alarm: we can either panic, blame and fuel the chaos, or we can calmly identify the source of the problem and take meaningful action to prevent further harm. Choosing the latter means investing in people rather than punishment, so that no one feels trapped in cycles of crime or convinced that they have no place or opportunity within society.