Jailing J Hus for possessing a knife won’t solve the problem
Franklyn Addo
We should be working with those at risk of offending and supporting their talent rather than compounding their trauma
In June, the musician J Hus was arrested for possessing a knife. He has now been given an eight-month prison sentence, much to the disappointment of many of his fans. I share the frustration in this sentencing decision – apart from the fact that locking people up in often overcrowded, understaffed prisons ought not to be a cause for celebration, such penal measures often fail to acknowledge the context of the crime and therefore fail to resolve it in the longer term. J Hus’s trajectory has been at once triumphant and tumultuous. On one hand he has pioneered an authentic, distinctive and eclectic sound.
But despite deservedly rocketing to stardom and releasing an era-defining album Common Sense, covetable earnings, chart success and accolades such as Brit and Mercury award nominations are starkly contrasted by moments of misfortune.
He has six previous convictions, and was stabbed five times in 2015. More recently, his friend was stabbed and consequently paralysed this year – it was just six days afterwards that J Hus was caught carrying the weapon for which he has been imprisoned.