On the 29th of February 2020, the National Lottery-Funded community group – Together As One Trust (TAOT) organized one of its programmed crime prevention events in Manchester.
Case Studies
The target audience was mainly younger family members of a Manchester-based community organization called the Cameroon Family Group, otherwise known as CAMFAG. Taking place in a rented hall in Vicarage Road in Swinton, the audience was presented with a drama that focused on the consequences of committing a crime or living a life of crime. The performance was divided into two parts.
The first part told the story of a criminal whose case had been in the court during the previous six weeks as all the evidence against him was examined and the witnesses testified. It was the day of sentencing. The lady judge recounted the impact that the criminal actions of the accused had on specific individuals as well as on the community. Some of his crimes included burglary, Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH) linked to knife crime, drug-related offences, theft and many more.
The following are just some of the consequences of crime in the community and individuals perpetrated by the accused; they range from fear within members of his community and its neighborhood and some were victims of burglary and theft. Also, other younger persons are now involved in drug crimes, meanwhile one of his latest crimes was a knife-related fight that resulted in a victim losing sight in one of his eyes.
The judge pointed out that in the past, shorter sentences previously handed him in addition to recommended community work were in order to help rehabilitate him. She added that such an approach had not worked given that he carried on committing crimes. As a result, he was going to be sentenced this time to 8 effective years in jail.
He was then escorted to a prison cell where he would spend the next 8 years. While in prison, (a make-shift and imaginary prison), which was a large circle of humans who formed some kind of chain barrier supposedly difficult to break out of, the criminal having spent his initial days inside and starting to realize what he was missing out there, endeavored to get out.
Everyone in the audience was taught to respond to any attempt by the prisoner to get out of jail, with a simple chorus chanting – “no way”. For example, the criminal would say “I want my mommy”, to which the response by the audience was, “no way”, “I want my daddy”, “no way”, “I want my tablet”, “no way”, “I want my cell phone”, “no way”, “I need my friends”, “no way”, “I want my bicycle”, “no way”, “please let me out”, “no way. With no possibility of getting out before the 8 years would elapse, the criminal resigned himself to his fate. He ended up spending 8 effective years of his life in prison.
The next and final question was around what they considered to be good characteristics of a good boy or girl. Responses ranged from being obedient to their parents, taking their studies extremely seriously, reporting anything that they are unsure or concerned about, and doing everything to stay out of trouble as much as possible etc.