Toby Eccles: Invest in social change

Here's a stat worth knowing: In the UK, 63% of men who finish short-term prison sentences are back inside within a year for another crime. Helping them stay outside involves job training, classes, therapy. And it would pay off handsomely -- but the government can't find the funds. Toby Eccles shares an idea for how to change that: the Social Impact Bond. It's an unusual bond that helps fund new social services -- especially those where a small investment could create a much larger societal benefit. (And yes, investors, mainly NGOs, get a share of the profit if the service works.)

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[ShafiqNazrin]

Great Idea. Let the world invest in this instead of wars and crimes

[justinfst]

I believe I just listened to the the societal change version of Kickstarter 

[Vardagaladhiel]

I really like this idea. One of my family members works in the prison service and they say that see a lot of people reoffend just to get back in prison as they get food, shelter and (a very minimal) wage there- so if there could be a better system in place to provide stability once they're out of prison then that can only be a good thing I think. I know it won't fix the problem and people will still reoffend, but any reduction would be a positive thing.

[Aresftfun]

The US needs to do this. But they won't because for the US big prison is a big business. So they'd rather have everyone but themselves lose, for pennies and throwing poc in prison. To work for under minimum wage on making products cheap for companies. At the core, the problem is disgusting systematic racism and lobbying, which is legal bribing.

[punkybrewstar]

Give money to charity? Guaranteed tax rebate. Invest here and there is a 13% possible return on investment. I think the concept that this is a solid investment because social change benefits everyone is really the angle & a grand one, and I truly believe that most people are good & actually want an opportunity to help, and that there would be plenty of volunteers. However initial "investors" in it mostly for returns obviously wouldn't do it here. It is still a labor of love project dependent on the spirit of hope, kindness, generosity & care.

[seandoherty]

I believe that prison should instead of just locking away people who commit crimes they should focus more on why the crime was committed (the psychological reasons for the destructive behavior) and correct from there, without this aspect you are leaving the responsibility of change entirely up to the people who committed the crime themselves.

[Theis]

This doesn't only work in the judicial system, but in every aspect of public governance. It is the optimal solution as to how the public and the private sector could work together in a way that is much more sustainable for our society.
In Denmark we are having a lot of debates about whether or not we should privatize areas like health care, care of children and the elderly because private companies supposedly are more efficient.
But this is the problem, efficiency is not the goal - in this case it's less reoffenders and in health care system it's less readmissions and so on.
Maybe this form of collaboration could benefit us all and the public and the private sector could learn something from each other. 
    

[LeonidasGGG]

Doing the right thing, not because it's right, but because it's profitable... Pause for thought.

[penalastral]

Money is not necessary, profit is what is screwing nature

[ilmarsabele]

The thing is that In UK way way too many rules are immoral and unnecessary so many people go to jail without actually doing harm to anyone.

[MrJohnHydrogen]

The thing is that it would be too difficult to measure the results. In other words, you could interpret the numbers any way you want.

[ashtwenty]

probably best to start small scale (small counties) to reduce the investment net cost. that should encourage investors because it is a smaller amount of money to invest.

[jbetteridge]

It's a shame the government doesn't care.

[barrel]

Yeah! Get Serco  to do it. They have made a good job so far, ahem.

[tonyotag]

Wait, this is a near sham... If less offenses happen then did the program actually work? Will the "less offences" paid by econometric (statistics) become counted as a country's GDP or GNP (NNP)? If so then that is not accurate way to manage the human condition of pride. Instead, give them higher in prison wages Or Debt reduction programs for work performed.
Another great idea is to ask the individual, not treat the individual as the group. 
Or lower commodity prices and less corporate hording of profits = less crime (outside of stupid crimes where the motivation is for fun, not for profit or harm)

[Viviancanderson]

Did he say what the outcome numbers were?

[PrimevalMudd]

Isn't this all stuff the government should be doing anyway? This is the sort of thing I pay tax for, not to enrich investors.

[flanfan]

why didn't the ministry of justice just provide the funding?

[ceecee_is_here]

Anyone else feel like they're just being sold to?

[beirirangu]

f*** that... in america, prisons make money from the prisoners...

it's one of the saddest things I've ever seen...