Monthly News Bulletin
Email Bulletin January 2010
Welcome to the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies' monthly email bulletin, bringing you a roundup of news, research, political developments, events and updates on our work.
WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO?
Will anyone notice if the Conservatives win?
BBC Home editor Mark Easton, chaired the event and was joined on the platform by Julia Unwin CBE (Joseph Rowntree Foundation), James Brokenshire MP (Shadow Minister for Crime Reduction), Professor Alex Callinicos (King's College London) and Richard Garside (Director here at the Centre). Mark Easton opened the event highlighting the `crowded middle ground' in British politics. James Brokenshire responded that the Tories' approach would be distinct, with an emphasis on `big society' rather than a `big state'.
Julia Unwin said that while cross-party calls to tackle poverty were music to her ears, a strong state was necessary. Alex Callinicos said that the fundamental problem weaving its way through society is not poverty, but inequality. He thought that the current government had genuinely attempted to reduce inequality but had failed because of its pact with the City. James Brokenshire thought that reducing inequality was a good idea and specifically wanted to reduce the gap between median incomes and the lowest. Callinicos wasn't too impressed by this as an aspiration saying that median income in the UK was approximately £20k.
On prisons, Brokenshire said that in the short term, the prison population would increase but under Conservative early intervention programmes, the numbers would then come down. Richard Garside drew attention to the work of Richard Wilkinson and colleagues to show that the more unequal a society, the larger its prison population.
On stop and searches, Brokenshire said the Conservatives would pursue their draft manifesto plans to widen use of stop and search whilst reducing paperwork associated with it. Pressed by the audience on the evidence to suggest that stop and search is an effective mechanism, he said it was on the grounds of speaking to police and practitioners who said that it made a difference.
Will anyone notice if the Conservatives win? Well, the simple answer we arrived at during our annual event last week was `probably not'.
Una Padel Award 2009
Presentations were also made during the evening to winners of the awards, which recognises inspiring organisational and individual contributions in the field of criminal justice. Speaking about one of our award winners in Parliament, Vera Baird, Solicitor General said, `I was proud yesterday to attend the Una Padel award ceremony at King's College London, where Survivors of Domestic Abuse, a volunteer organisation from Redcar, won an award for its work. It is run by young victims of domestic violence who saw the work done by Women's Aid locally and discovered that they could help people who were trying to get out of violent relationships by talking to them, sharing their experiences and giving support. It is cheering that it is young women who are doing that.' You can read more here.
You can read more about the Una Padel Award winners for 2009 here.
Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs
On 15 January 2010, Professor Nutt, with the help of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, established the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD). The Committee is filled to the brim with scientific experts of all types and will hold its first meeting in late April and get on with the job. It aims to provide to the public, policy makers and educationalists the best possible scientific evidence about the effects and harms of drugs irrespective of legality.
If you would like to join the `Friends of ISCD' mailing list and to discover how you might be able to help the ISCD to thrive then please visit here:
Contact details for the ISCD are: 020 7848 7328 or email:
. The ISCD postal address is ISCD c/o CCJS, 8th floor, Melbourne House, 46 Aldwych, London WC2B 4LL.
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Then write for us...... Criminal Justice Matters magazine (cjm) engages critically with research, analysis and policy development on contemporary social justice and criminal justice issues in the UK and abroad. If you have something to say on policy or want to share research, ideas or practice in a space that welcomes critical analysis and debate, then get in touch. Please send a short paragraph outlining your proposed article to
or find out more at our website here.
Other stuff
Our director Richard Garside spoke at a Statistic Authority open meeting on crime statistics as part of his contribution to the Authority's review of barriers to trust in crime statistics. He also had a fascinating meeting with Harvey Thomas, former advisor to Margaret Thatcher, who was nearly killed in the 1984 Brighton bombing. Harvey told Richard about the reconciliation work he has done with Patrick Magee, the man who planted the bomb. Harvey also gave him his tip for who would win the general election.
Roger Grimshaw, research director, gave a presentation on findings from the Centre's comprehensive review of literature on young people, knives and guns at the National Violence Task Force meeting on 14 January. The National Violence Task Force is a group of senior officials from across government and key stakeholders including the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and its aim is to inform and steer the Home Office's work on preventing and reducing violent crime. You can download the Centre's review here.
Julia Braggins, former director at the Centre spoke about prison officers and prison education, based on the 'Wings of Learning' report that she co-wrote with Jenny Talbot, at the Institute of Education's conference on 'Neglected Perspectives on Teacher Education for Prisons'.
Also, coming soon...
Conference: Criminal Justice in an Age of Austerity and Change
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
There are a few remaining places at our forthcoming conference `Criminal Justice in an Age of Austerity and Change' so if you would like register an interest in attended please e-mail
with your name, occupation, organisation and contact number.
The day will consist of two symposiums, the morning focusing on New Labour's criminal justice reforms and the afternoon on what the future holds in a period of public spending cuts; in the middle of the day there will be four expert seminars looking in detail at different aspects of the changes brought about in criminal justice the last 13 years.
This conference is jointly hosted by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (CCJS), the Centre for Legal Research, University of the West of England, and Centre for Criminal Justice in the Law School at the University of Warwick.
Speakers at the conference include Professor Lee Bridges, Professor Andrew Sanders, Professor Ed Cape, Professor Rod Morgan, Professor Andrew Ashworth, Professor Jackie Hodgson and Professor John Benington.
Transitions to adulthood
Still in transition are the much anticipated papers to be published by the Centre in the spring; part of a three-paper series exploring the policy challenges affecting young adults in trouble with the law. On the horizon next is the paper by Dr James McGuire of the University of Liverpool, who challenges the view that coercive interventions can be effective. The third paper, on social justice approaches, will follow this spring. The papers form part of the Centre's contribution to the Transition to Adulthood Alliance, established by the Barrow Cadbury Trust.
You can read a comment piece by the Centre's director Richard Garside on the first paper in the series, `Risky people or risky societies?' here.
TAKE A LOOK AT THIS
The fiscal crises in corrections: rethinking policies and practices
This report from the Center on Sentencing and Corrections, at the Vera Institute of Justice, looks at the impact of reduced budgets on corrections spending in the USA. This report examines the form of these spending cuts, including reforms in release policy, and strategies for reducing recidivism. You can download the report here.
Recorded homicide statistics
The latest homicide statistics show the lowest number of currently recorded homicides since 1998/99, when 642 were recorded, compared to 651 in 2008/09. For analysis and international comparisons, see Homicides, Firearm Offences and
Intimate Violence 2008/09 which can be downloaded here.
Experiences of black teenagers in prison
The Institute of Race Relations highlights the disproportionately high number of black teenagers in custody, according to the findings of the recent `Children and Young People in Custody 2008-2009' report from the HM Inspectorate of Prisons and Youth Justice Board. The summary and report can be read here.
Ethnicity, Identity and Social Relations in Prison
This report by Dr. Coretta Philips of the London School of Economics, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, finds that although tensions between ethnic groups and resentment of institutional race equality approaches are common, most prisoners appear to be comfortable with diversity. The report can be read in full here.
IN THE NEWS
Home Secretary says Tories are soft on crime and soft on causes of crime
The Home Secretary Alan Johnson has accused David Cameron of being too liberal, citing the Conservatives plan to cut back on CCTV, which he argues has been `one of the best investments we have made towards cutting crime and liberating people who felt scared to go out at night'. Mirror (21/01/2010)
DNA matches solve only a fraction of crimes
Police admitted that approximately 1 in 150 crimes have been solved through a match on the National DNA database. Guardian (05/01/2010)
Drinks industry 'seducing teenagers'
Alcohol companies are accused in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) of using questionable tactics to promote their products. The alcohol industry spends £800m annually on promoting drinking in the UK, 45 times more than the Government spends on educating people about its dangers. Alcohol industries are disappointed at the `distortion' of `confidential and commercially sensitive information they shared in good faith'.
Independent (21/01/2010)
Obesity 'now a bigger threat than smoking'
Expanding waistlines now cause as much or more disease than tobacco, and do as much or more to shorten healthy life-spans, according to US researchers. Independent (05/01/2010)
Law and disorder
A policeman overwhelmed by paperwork found a mouse nest in a mountain of documents on his desk. Sun (01/01/2010)
QUOTEs OF THE MONTH
`You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. Things that we had postponed for too long, that were long-term, are now immediate and must be dealt with. This crisis provides the opportunity for us to do things that you could not do before.'
Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama's chief of staff tells the Wall Street Journal.
`And I can remember one of my inspectors saying to an imam in one of the prisons, "Do you know what inspectors do?'" and he smiled broadly and said, "Yes, you're the people who make potted plants appear"'.
Dame Anne Owers, the chief inspector of prisons. Guardian