No Place to Call Home by Katharine Quarmby

Author:Katharine Quarmby [Quarmby, Katharine]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Dale Farm, Basildon, Roma, Gypsies, Irish Travellers, Romani, Romany, Sheridan, McCarthy, Flynt, Holocaust, Occupy, Eviction, Justice
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Published: 2013-07-22T16:00:00+00:00

Strikingly, over half of all Irish Travellers in prison were there for property offences, compared to thirty per cent of prisoners from the general population. ‘All forms of theft tend to occur disproportionately in poor, isolated, socially disadvantaged neighbourhoods … In criminology, the rationale for this occurrence lies in “strain theory” which, put simply, suggests that a lack of legitimate opportunities to achieve material success will lead to criminal activity as an alternative method to achieving it,’ Voices Unheard explained. ‘[I]n Traveller communities, where employment is scarce and the prospect of moving out of poverty seems remote, one would expect to find higher rates of offences involving misappropriated property. This results from the fact Travellers have one of the lowest levels of legitimate opportunities, and therefore unlawfully obtaining the property of another becomes a conceivable means to success.’ While this analysis does not excuse any crimes, it does expose a powerful motivator for criminality. It is striking too that the Chaplaincy learned of few Travellers who had been convicted of crimes of violence, drugs or sexual offences, in comparison to the general population.

Many of the Irish Travellers in prison also had mental health issues of some kind, which, in many cases, were compounded by their incarceration, with nearly one-third reported to have learning difficulties and nearly two-thirds of female Travellers (and one quarter of all Travellers in prison) having mental health problems. These were staggering statistics. Why were so many disabled Travellers being imprisoned and why were so many of them being imprisoned for offences for which a member of the settled community would receive a non-custodial sentence?

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