The Howard League for Penal Reform is the world’s oldest prison reform charity. Our overriding ambition is to move the dial on punishment towards building a more humane and effective response to crime, that provides justice to all and helps to reduce reoffending.
Our successful campaigns have led to the abolition of capital punishment, an end to the ban on sending books to prisoners and a massive reduction in arrests of children. We provide specialist legal advice and representation to children and young people in the criminal justice system, through the only dedicated advice line for children and young people in custody in England and Wales.
We are a membership organisation that combines our litigation with campaigning and policy work. The charity’s current strategic priorities include addressing challenges in sentencing, preventing the overuse of remand, finding a resolution to the ongoing incarceration and recall of people on IPP sentences, confronting the injustices wrought by ‘secondary liability’ in joint enterprise murder cases, and making the case for prison reform.
Our campaigns team focuses on using public affairs, lobbying and media work to advance change.
We are recruiting for a new senior policy role, which will involve developing and executing a strategy to influence penal policy and practice, with a focus on adult males, alongside some targeted public affairs work in the area of IPP reform. The successful candidate would also line manage at least one member of staff in a developing team.
Key responsibilities
- Developing and executing strategy to influence penal policy and practice, working with key members of staff from across the organisation to identify issues and secure change.
- Lobbying and influencing a range of stakeholders, developing and nurturing strong relationships with relevant agencies and opinion formers.
- Speaking on behalf of the Howard League at a senior level at a range of conferences and events.
- To write reports, consultation responses and parliamentary briefings with clear objectives for change, in line with the organisation’s strategic priorities.
- Line managing at least one member of staff in the policy team.
- Maintaining professional knowledge and skills to keep pace in dynamic environments and share skills as appropriate with colleagues.
- Working as part of the whole office team.