The Guardian stands by Erwin James, murderer turned crime commentator

I've long admired the writing of Erwin James, the Guardian's columnist and commentator on crime. He knows his subject: he served a life sentence for two murders in the early 1980s. He started writing his Guardian column A life inside in 2000, four years before his release. His writing career flourished after his release, a testimony to his ability to offer a rare insight into prison life.  

Last week, he and the Guardian were seriously embarrassed when James - real name Erwin James Monahan - admitted he had lied about his time in the French Foreigh Legion in a piece for the paper in 2006. The Guardian's reader's editor Siobhain Butterworth explained  in her Open Door column today why the paper would be giving him another chance. She says:

"It is never acceptable to lie to - or deliberately mislead - readers, but a sense or proportion about this incident is needed. Monahan is not a trained journalist who falsified news reports; he is a writer who, having pulled himself out of the most dreadful mire, went on to make the mistake of lying about his past to protect an identity he had been concealing for years. He has caused damage to the reputation of the Guardian and given some people reason to doubt his work. He will have to re-earn their trust. I wish him luck."

I think that's fair. The debate about crime and punishment in Britain rarely rises above the Daily Mail's simplistic 'lock them up and throw away the keys' approach. That's why we send more people to prison as a proportion of our population than most other western countries. I'd rather the government and the media focus on whether prison is the right punishment - and how to stop people reoffending after being released. No-one would condone the terrible crimes James committed a generation ago, but we should be pleased that he had the talent and motivation to become a writer and transform his life. Despite his serious lapse of judgement in 2006, I'm glad the Guardian is allowing him to continue to keep us all better informed about life inside.

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[erwin james]

Thanks Rob - Erwin James