Justice, Punishment and Rehabilitation in the UK Criminal Justice System

Unit 33 Justice
Punishment and
Rehabilitation

TABLES OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK...............................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
The UK legal system is based on transformative approach to bring fundamental changes
in the criminal justice system. Major reforms have been taken place to provide safety and
security to an individual. There are various International Convention and treaties that secures the
legal and fundamental rights of the citizens and provide the punishment to an offender to
rehabilitate and reform them. The main purpose of sentencing imprisonment is to protect the
society from crime and to reduce recidivism. It is a fundamental and legal right of an individual
to access their right to justice to give them an opportunity must present their argument. The UK
common law is based on principle of equity that aims to provide fair, just and reasonable
criminal justice system (Calkin, 2021). The prison reform trust of UK is an independent body
that facilitates the effective prison system and conduct many various training programmes for the
offender to rehabilitate them and enhance their personal skill and knowledge to make them right
person for the society. This report will cover the given case scenario and analyse the
effectiveness of criminal justice process in dealing with justice, punishment, and rehabilitation of
offenders. Further, it will deal cover various types of legal principles of justice and current issue
of sentencing, rehabilitation in a contemporary society.
TASK
In a given case, Anjem Choudary is a social activist who was convicted for supporting ISIS.
He was sentenced imprisonment for five years and six months and release shortly. Many
restrictions had been imposed on him which includes ban on public speaking and his imposed
condition comes to an end just after release from prison. Mr. Choudary does not have any guilt
for his criminal act, and he considered himself as a 'prisoner of faith'.
According to this case scenario, the sentence of imprisonment given to the Anjem
Choudary is based on the reformative theory to influence the criminal mind and behaviour of the
offender. According to UK criminal justice system, id an individual commits any criminal act,
then State is responsible to impose punishment on them to deter them. Imprisonment is given in
the form of punishment in almost every nation to impose penal liability over the offenders and
government plays significant role in emphasising on importance of rehabilitation and
reintegration to satisfy the primary objective of imprisonment (Bailey, 2019). According to
Article 10.3 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights of 1966 defines the

penitentiary system consist of lawful treatment with the prisoners that are important to reform
and rehabilitate the offender. They should be humanly treated, and their dignity and integrity
must be ensured in a prison. According to United Nations Standards Minimum Rules for
treatment of prisoners which is also known as Nelson Mandela Rules provides the fundamental
rules and standards to safeguard the personal integrity of the prisoners and impose duty on the
authorities to rehabilitate the offenders by offering them vocational training, work, and skill
development programmes to create human value and kindness in them.
The criminal law provides protection against the body, property, and State. The varieties
of sanction have been provided by the English legal system to punish the offenders. He
enforcement court provides the proper mechanism to consider the violation of right of the victim
and provides them effective remedy to secure their general interest. The criminal justice system
has two main objectives which includes reduce crime and dispense fair and effective justice to
promote faith over the legal system (Maguire and Raynor, 2019). This kind of approach brings
transparency in the legal system and help the victim to access their right to justice. Justice is the
fundamental principle of CJS which uphold the right of the citizens and treat them with fairness,
integrity, and respect. Criminal justice system deals with core fundamental principles which
includes prevents crime, protect the public from harm, support victim and their families, punish
offender and rehabilitate the prisoner to make them law abiding citizens of the society. The most
important independent body has been established known as Prison Reform Trust in the year
1981 which bring major reform to promote prisoner's human right, their conditions and promote
alternative mechanism to return them into the society. NHS has defined the various safety
standards to promote the life of prisoners in custody, ensure their mental health and create social
environment for them to avoid psychological disorder which may negatively affect them. The
restriction impose on Anjem Choudary was valid as he was a public speaker and it was important
for the State to ban on his meeting with public so, that he cannot harm the safety of other people.
But, punishment of seven years and six month was not enough for his guilty act and involvement
with ISIS shows his relationship with terrorists which may harm the sovereignty, integrity and
safety of the nation. In the criminal legal system, the burden of proof always lies on the
prosecution to prove the guilt of the defence. The evidence produce by the prosecution must be
prove beyond reasonable doubt. There is certain exception of the general rule, where onus of
proof lies with the defence must likely in the case of negligence (Ganapathy, 2018). The law-