Radical Transparency: Opening the Parole System in England and Wales to Greater Scrutiny and Accountability

• In Event: Courts and Sentencing and Penal Decision Making 8. Judicial and Sentencing Policy

Abstract

In his 1914 book on banking, US Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis famously wrote that sunlight was “the best of disinfectants” and “electric light the most efficient policeman”. Following the decision taken by the Parole Board for England and Wales in December 2017 to direct the release of the so-called "Black cab rapist", John Worboys, a series of changes were made to the parole system which were designed to render it more transparent and accountable. The hope is that these measures will restore the public and political confidence in parole that was so damaged by the Worboys case. The reforms that were introduced have included holding some parole hearings in “public”; introducing decision summaries which are primarily made available to victims and sometimes to the press; and the creation of a new “reconsideration mechanism” which allows some parole decisions to be given a second look without the need for the intervention of the courts. The strengths and weaknesses of these measures will be examined in this paper. It will also ask what else needs to be done to move parole in England and Wales further into the sunlight. The paper will conclude with some reflections on the dilemmas that all parole systems face when deciding which prisoners can and which cannot be safely released into the community.

Author

• Stephen Cameron Shute, University of Sussex