Post by Macmoish on Aug 31, 2010 7:22:37 GMT
You have to really admire a parent (or a spouse) who try and do good after a terrible tragedy
Voice Online
Dad of murdered teen launches pioneering court initiative
Ben Lettman
TEACHING: Mark Prince
Is this scheme a viable alternative to seeding scores of young men to prison?
A LANDMARK scheme devised by the father of murdered teenager Kiyan Prince could see offenders give back to the community instead of receiving criminal sentences.
At Blackfriars crown court. 29-year-old Chris Murray was facing between two to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to possession of 80 skunk trees in his flat in Archway, north London. However, Kiyan’s father Mark asked the judge not to send Murray to prison and instead have Murray give back to the community by working with the Kiyan Prince Foundation (KPF). The judge accepted and Murray was given a 12-month suspended sentence and ordered to pay off his debts to society by working with the KPF.
The KPF was set up in memory of Kiyan, 15, who died on May 18 2006 from a single knife wound to the heart. Kiyan, who played football for Queens Park Rangers, intervened in an altercation between murderer Hanad Hassan and a student at London Academy, which was Kiyan’s school, before being fatally stabbed.
Mark, 41, told The Voice how he first came up with the restorative punishment idea for offenders.
“I’m big on restorative justice and I realised that the community needs a little bit more of a stronghold of what’s been going on in their own communities,” said Mark.
“One of the things we spotted is that a lot of these guys that are going in prison are costing us over £100,000 a year of taxpayers money to keep inside. And what does he learn in prison? Mixed with other criminals he makes connections, sometimes becomes a better criminal but there’s no real restorative justice there for him to turn his life around so he’s just being punished.
“Apart from fear of prison there’s nothing stopping these guys so we figured that if we have these guys under our wing we can get them to focus on exactly what they’ve done wrong.
“By going out, doing what I’m doing - talking to the kids about the consequences of their crime, talk about how they got into this problem - it will help to deter others. If you’ve got these guys who are supposed to be in prison and they’re working with us, they’re raising money for the community to help different problems in the community.”
The first of its kind case could lead to a chain reaction of similar sentences occurring. Judge Daniel Worsley of Blackfriars Crown Court backed the historic ruling, saying: “… I commend it. If custody can be avoided, a judge will avoid it.”
Mark added: “This guy (Murray) in particular is supposed to be raising at least £5,000 for the KPF and there’s another organisation that I’ve done this with, Angels With Dirty Faces, who put this whole thing together and checked out the law. Everything we were doing was legal. I’ve never met this guy before, he’s not a friend or anything.
“It was just a case that we saw he was low risk. We saw he was not violent, he was a first time offender so we might be able to help him and restore him back to his life if you give him a second chance. We’ve let him see the error of his ways by telling other kids what he’s done and that’s really the whole concept behind what we’re trying to do. The reason why it was so huge is because it’s never been done before. No-one’s ever dared to go in the court and ask for that to happen. We did and it worked.”
Mark was a stellar professional boxer who won 19 of his 20 bouts, knocking out 15 of his opponents. A world title challenger, his career was cut short due to severe knee injuries. Knowing that sport can be used as tool to keep people out of trouble, another initiative that he set up through the KPF is the ‘Boxing For Life’ programme which teaches the art of boxing as well as life skills in general.
“I’ve basically looked at it and thought that boxing in every area, from when you teach somebody how to stand to teach them about combination punching to even the team that’s in your corner, I’ve realised that it’s showed an analogy for life itself,” explained Mark.
“So if I’m teaching them the right stance in boxing I’ve realised that you can also teach them what’s the right stance in every different area you need to take in life. It’s an area where I can elaborate on so I’ll teach them how to stand and be well balanced but we all need to be well balanced in life and we need to have a positive stance in life on different issues.”
The milestone achievement created by the KPF could benefit future generations of offenders for years to come but Mark realises that the KPF still has plenty more to do.
“The foundation hasn’t reached the pinnacle of where it needs to be. We want to be able to give these kids every advantage they can get and teach really them to have a successful life instead of thinking that they’re a product of their environment.”
* To support Mark’s work please donate to the Kiyan Prince Foundation at www.kiyan.org
www.voice-online.co.uk/content.php?show=18082
Voice Online
Dad of murdered teen launches pioneering court initiative
Ben Lettman
TEACHING: Mark Prince
Is this scheme a viable alternative to seeding scores of young men to prison?
A LANDMARK scheme devised by the father of murdered teenager Kiyan Prince could see offenders give back to the community instead of receiving criminal sentences.
At Blackfriars crown court. 29-year-old Chris Murray was facing between two to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to possession of 80 skunk trees in his flat in Archway, north London. However, Kiyan’s father Mark asked the judge not to send Murray to prison and instead have Murray give back to the community by working with the Kiyan Prince Foundation (KPF). The judge accepted and Murray was given a 12-month suspended sentence and ordered to pay off his debts to society by working with the KPF.
The KPF was set up in memory of Kiyan, 15, who died on May 18 2006 from a single knife wound to the heart. Kiyan, who played football for Queens Park Rangers, intervened in an altercation between murderer Hanad Hassan and a student at London Academy, which was Kiyan’s school, before being fatally stabbed.
Mark, 41, told The Voice how he first came up with the restorative punishment idea for offenders.
“I’m big on restorative justice and I realised that the community needs a little bit more of a stronghold of what’s been going on in their own communities,” said Mark.
“One of the things we spotted is that a lot of these guys that are going in prison are costing us over £100,000 a year of taxpayers money to keep inside. And what does he learn in prison? Mixed with other criminals he makes connections, sometimes becomes a better criminal but there’s no real restorative justice there for him to turn his life around so he’s just being punished.
“Apart from fear of prison there’s nothing stopping these guys so we figured that if we have these guys under our wing we can get them to focus on exactly what they’ve done wrong.
“By going out, doing what I’m doing - talking to the kids about the consequences of their crime, talk about how they got into this problem - it will help to deter others. If you’ve got these guys who are supposed to be in prison and they’re working with us, they’re raising money for the community to help different problems in the community.”
The first of its kind case could lead to a chain reaction of similar sentences occurring. Judge Daniel Worsley of Blackfriars Crown Court backed the historic ruling, saying: “… I commend it. If custody can be avoided, a judge will avoid it.”
Mark added: “This guy (Murray) in particular is supposed to be raising at least £5,000 for the KPF and there’s another organisation that I’ve done this with, Angels With Dirty Faces, who put this whole thing together and checked out the law. Everything we were doing was legal. I’ve never met this guy before, he’s not a friend or anything.
“It was just a case that we saw he was low risk. We saw he was not violent, he was a first time offender so we might be able to help him and restore him back to his life if you give him a second chance. We’ve let him see the error of his ways by telling other kids what he’s done and that’s really the whole concept behind what we’re trying to do. The reason why it was so huge is because it’s never been done before. No-one’s ever dared to go in the court and ask for that to happen. We did and it worked.”
Mark was a stellar professional boxer who won 19 of his 20 bouts, knocking out 15 of his opponents. A world title challenger, his career was cut short due to severe knee injuries. Knowing that sport can be used as tool to keep people out of trouble, another initiative that he set up through the KPF is the ‘Boxing For Life’ programme which teaches the art of boxing as well as life skills in general.
“I’ve basically looked at it and thought that boxing in every area, from when you teach somebody how to stand to teach them about combination punching to even the team that’s in your corner, I’ve realised that it’s showed an analogy for life itself,” explained Mark.
“So if I’m teaching them the right stance in boxing I’ve realised that you can also teach them what’s the right stance in every different area you need to take in life. It’s an area where I can elaborate on so I’ll teach them how to stand and be well balanced but we all need to be well balanced in life and we need to have a positive stance in life on different issues.”
The milestone achievement created by the KPF could benefit future generations of offenders for years to come but Mark realises that the KPF still has plenty more to do.
“The foundation hasn’t reached the pinnacle of where it needs to be. We want to be able to give these kids every advantage they can get and teach really them to have a successful life instead of thinking that they’re a product of their environment.”
* To support Mark’s work please donate to the Kiyan Prince Foundation at www.kiyan.org
www.voice-online.co.uk/content.php?show=18082
