In July 2015, “Not my crime, still my sentence” was named the Guardian’s Charity Campaign of the Month, and an article was published entitled: “Not my crime, still my sentence: how jailing parents punishes children”. Extracts from the article:
What’s different about this campaign?
The sheer variety of groups involved, from some smaller prison reform groups to large children’s welfare charities and from Croatia to New York. There was also a concerted effort to preserve and support children’s voices in the campaign.
What we like about it
It’s international, collaborative, and unashamedly policy heavy. A policy focus is inevitable when trying to create national and international change. By uniting at a European level, organisations can compare policy successes and failures, lobby MEPs as member states and collectively, and very importantly, pool data from national organisations to build their case. It’s staggering to think what could be achieved if other charities collaborated more frequently with their European counterparts.
Cope has also been savvy in attracting corporate support. By illustrating the human rights case for their work they attracted help from cosmetics company Lush. The profits raised from the sale of their Charity Pot – a hand and body lotion – helped fund the video [800,000 voices].
The network want no less than “a cultural shift inside the prison and outside”.
You can read Anna Isaac’s full article on the “Not my crime, still my sentence” campaign here: