September 10, 2025
COMMUNITY-LED SOLUTIONS TO REDUCING REOFFENDING – A RESPONSE TO THE SENTENCING BILL
September 2025
Building safer communities through education and employment
At Bounce Back, we know that the most effective way to reduce reoffending is by investing in people’s futures. Access to education, skills training, and real employment opportunities doesn’t just change lives — it prevents crime. By supporting individuals with a history of offending or substance misuse to learn, train, and work, we help break the cycle of reoffending and contribute to safer, more resilient communities.
That’s why we are deeply concerned by the Government’s new Sentencing Bill, which continues to place disproportionate focus on incarceration, surveillance, and punitive controls, rather than addressing the root causes of offending and investing in what actually works – community support, skills, employment, and hope.
We know from our work that people can change – if given the right support at the right time.
What’s Changing – And Why We’re Concerned
The Sentencing Bill, introduced in response to a projected shortfall in prison spaces, proposes a “Progression Model” with tougher conditions, earlier tagging, more restrictions on movement, and extended supervision periods. While there is a move toward community sentences in some cases, the tone is clear: more punishment, more control, more visibility – but not more support.
Key issues:
- Expanded tagging and surveillance shift resources from rehabilitation to monitoring.
- Restrictions on movement and bans from public spaces do little to tackle underlying issues like trauma, addiction, or unemployment.
- Publishing names and photos of offenders under community orders undermines reintegration and increases stigma – it’s punitive theatre, not meaningful justice.
- Short custodial sentences still on the table – despite the government’s own admission that they are ineffective at reducing reoffending.
These are not community-focused solutions. They are tactics rooted in fear, not in evidence.
What We Know Works – And What We Do
Bounce Back has supported nearly 10,000 people across London since 2010. We don’t do this in prisons anymore.
We now focus entirely on prevention, diversion, and community-based rehabilitation. We work with people at the point of custody, post-release, and in the community, offering:
- Industry-recognised training in trades such as painting and decorating, fire door safety, emergency repairs and maintenance
- Employability programmes to help individuals build a career path
- Wraparound support for mental health, substance misuse, housing, and more
- Role models and mentors who’ve walked the same path
Our programmes don’t just keep people out of prison – they help them thrive. We offer a second chance, built on real skills, real jobs, and real support – not on curfews and ankle tags.
Community Justice: A Smarter Alternative
There is a better way. A diversionary and community-led approach doesn’t just work better – it costs less, achieves better outcomes, and builds stronger, safer communities.
If the Government is serious about reducing reoffending, it must do more than build prisons and impose bans – it must invest in people.
This means:
- Expanding proven diversionary schemes for young people at the point of arrest or charge
- Funding local employability programmes that offer real pathways to work
- Backing trauma-informed, wraparound support services that address mental health, addiction, and poverty
- Trusting community-based organisations to lead the way, not just enforce conditions
A Call to Government – and to Society
Let’s be clear: we all want safer communities. But we won’t achieve that through surveillance and suspicion. We’ll get there by supporting rehabilitation, reducing barriers, and building futures.
At Bounce Back, we’re proud to work with forward-thinking partners, funders, and employers who understand that real change takes place outside the prison gate.
We urge policymakers to listen to the evidence, the experts, and the people who’ve lived through the justice system.
We don’t need more prisons.
We need more purpose, more trust, and more opportunity.
📍 Bounce Back – Building Brighter Futures
💡 Support. Skills. Second Chances.
📩 To collaborate, fund or learn more, email [email protected]
