Community payback
The government has just launched a new initiative called “Community Payback”, which almost sounds like a very good idea. And that’s because it sounds a bit like a project called RockCorps, which took place last year. (Rockcorps involves kids signing up to do four hours of community volunteer work in exchange for a ticket to a special gig). This government scheme is also about community work but it’s for criminals and so there’s no concert at the end. And strictly speaking you get “volunteered”. By a judge.
Anyway, the idea is that the general public get to vote on the local projects they’d like offenders to work on as part of their community service. I guess the reward is not going to prison, which is probably more compelling than a gig ticket. Anyway, a couple of interesting things:
1. You can vote for the project you’d most like the young scamps to tackle in your local area here: http://communitypayback.direct.gov.uk/
2. All the offenders have to wear bright orange convict vests – the idea being that this public shaming is a major incentive for not re-offending.
This is the bit I’m unsure about, particularly based on the RockCorps model. The research from RockCorps showed that the volunteers got a massive boost from working on these projects and would readily volunteer again (they went into it for the gig ticket, but found the volunteering the best bit by far). So if this government scheme is about rehabilitation as much as punishment then shouldn’t the government be trying to make this as positive an experience for the offenders as possible?
Rather than parading them through the streets to work in shame, why not protect their anonymity and allow them to feel a genuine sense of pride, potentially for the first time in their lives? The work still gets done but without the public humiliation. Many prisoners admit to being immune to this type of humiliation anyway because they already have such low levels of self-respect. I reckon giving them something to be proud of would be a far better step towards breaking the cycle of offending.
Not sure what this has to do with advertising… I suppose it’s the government using these orange outfits to advertise their tough stance on crime that feels wrong. And a bit short-sighted.
