Monthly News Bulletin
Email Bulletin June 2010
Welcome to the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies' monthly email bulletin, bringing you a round-up of news, research, political developments, events and updates on our work.
WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO?
Ken you believe it?
The Centre hosted the Justice Secretary Rt Hon Ken Clarke QC MP for his first keynote speech in his new role. In a packed event chaired by our director Richard Garside, Mr Clarke said that he was amazed that the prison population had doubled since he was home secretary in the early 1990s. He called for intelligent sentencing that offered value for money and protection for the public. His speech can be found on the Ministry of Justice website.
Cjm: Transitions to adulthood
The themed section in the June issue of cjm, guest edited by Richard Garside, offers a series of articles on Transitions to adulthood, drawing on the work of the T2A Alliance, established and supported by the Barrow Cadbury Trust. It also includes a debating section on policing research and topical articles on unpaid work and community orders, judicial misconduct and drug regulation. More details here.
Little evidence to support the intensive Family Intervention Project...
A new briefing published by the Centre based on a comprehensive re-analysis of government funded evaluations on the effectiveness of the Family Intervention Project (FIP) strategy has concluded that the last Government was, once again, playing fast and loose with the evidence-base. Click here to download Family intervention projects: a classic case of policy-based evidence.
Is there an alternative to the `alternatives to custody' debate?
The Centre has begun an 18 month project which aims to make a major contribution to informing credible and coherent strategies to halt and reverse prison growth. If you're interested in participating in a forthcoming discussion event about the challenges facing strategies to tackle penal expansion please email
. To find out more about the project please see here.
A big thank you and goodbye to....
A big thank you and goodbye to Simon Allen, Faye Chapman and Felicia Silberhorn-Armantrading who have been on placement with us from Surrey University since September last year and will be missed when they leave us this month. They have made a substantial contribution to our work and we wish them luck in the future studies and careers.
We interrupt this communication...
There will be no bulletin over the summer whilst we take holidays and move office. We will be back in September. Our new address details will be sent in a separate communication as soon as possible.
Articles and speeches
Crime costs
Our director Richard Garside contributed a piece to a recent New Statesman supplement on the spending challenge facing the government and criminal justice. Other contributors included the journalist Erwin James and Howard League director Frances Crook.
A coalition for the women
Richard also gave a keynote address at a recent event of the Corston Independent Funders Coalition. He said that funders needed to support genuinely transformative services for women in the criminal justice system. Support for critical research and analysis were also vital he said. You can read what Richard said here.
Other stuff
Helen Mills and Rebecca Roberts attended the International Conference on Penal Abolition (ICOPA) in Belfast. Rebecca presented a paper on 'What is crime? An important question for abolitionists'. Highlights included a paper from Rachel Herzing and Isaac Ontiveros, attending on behalf of Critical Resistance (a US grass roots organisation campaigning against the expansion of the penal industrial complex), and hearing papers written by people in prison and discussions about inspiring and bringing about change, reform and abolition within criminal justice around the world.
Sandra Harper and Arianna Silvestri heard Nick Herbert MP, Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice speak at the Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute on `The Future of Criminal Justice - The Impact of New Policy, Fewer Resources and Public Influence'.
Also, coming soon...
Prison and probation expenditure, 1999-2009
The second in a series of three publications from the Centre on the last ten years of criminal justice expenditure will be published next month. Covering a period in which the penal system has received considerable political attention, including three rounds of organisational restructuring, this briefing will explore trends in how much has been spent on prison and probation, and how this spending has related to changes in the population subject to a custodial sentence or to probation supervision. The third briefing in the series, `Her Majesty's Court Services' will be published over the summer. If you would like to be informed when either briefing is released but are not a Centre member please email
Community Justice
Also coming this summer is a report on North Liverpool Community Justice Centre, the first and most developed site of the community justice approach in England and Wales. The report, by George Mair and Matthew Millings, outlines the operation and organisation of the Justice Centre and based on interviews with staff, defendants, and members of the local community, considers its contribution towards the ambitious vision set for community justice. If you would like to be informed when this report is released but are not a Centre member please email
WLTM critical thinkers for articles, reviews and lasting friendship
You: researcher, practitioner or activist with GSOH/critical thinking looking for discussion and debate. Me: strong minded, independent and established/mature magazine, in the form of Criminal Justice Matters. Searching for brief encounters (of 800 to 1600 words) that may turn into lasting friendship to explore developments in the fields of, social justice, harm and criminal justice. Send me your proposal now! To
or find out more here.
TAKE A LOOK AT THIS
Third sector work with `offenders'
This report from the Third Sector Research Centre surveys opinion from national criminal justice and third sector organisations on the strategic position of the sector and how it works in helping the resettlement of people convicted of offences.
`Legal aid system spells disaster for justice on asylum' according to a recent report
Four reports written by the Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees (ICAR) have been published by Refugee and Migrant Justice (RMJ) as a part of a project on the Cost of Quality Legal Advice in asylum legal aid work. Details about the latest report and a further important announcement about ICAR are on its website.
The Widening web of control
The International Council on Human Rights Policy has published a draft report considering the growth of social control and the implications of this process for human rights perspectives. The report can be accessed here.
Drugs research: An overview of evidence and questions for policy
Research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation that explores the problem of illicit drugs in the UK, and which asks `questions that were often too sensitive for the government to tackle'. The report can be downloaded here.
IN THE NEWS
Black men `to blame for most violent city crime'
Police statistics suggest that black men commit the majority of inner city crime, but are also twice as likely to be victims of such crimes. Richard Garside, of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, said: 'Given Britain's long history of racism and imperialism it should not greatly surprise us that black and minority ethnic groups are disproportionately members of social classes that have tended to experience greater victimisation and to be the subject of police attention. Just because the police treat black men as more criminal than white men, it does not mean that they are.' Sunday Telegraph (26/06/2010)
See also Richard's article on this on The Guardian's comment is free site.
Osborne's plans 'will hurt poorest families'
Despite assurances from Chancellor George Osborne that low-income and vulnerable families will feel the least impact of cuts, professionals have voiced concerns that the combination of measures, from rises in VAT to cuts to child tax credits, will pose a significant challenge to the poorest families. Children and Young People Now (22/06/2010)
How a deprived childhood leaves its mark on the brain
Britain's neuroscientists are set to study the brains of vulnerable children to find out if rather than simply being `bad', their brains have in fact been affected due to trauma they may have suffered in early childhood. The project, commissioned by Kids Company hopes to prove that over exposure to fright hormones can damage children's brain development, leaving them more likely to turn to violence as a way of controlling their emotions. The Independent (01/06/2010)
Don't put under-14s in court
Paul Mendelle, one of the country's leading barristers has argued that the age of criminal responsibility should be raised from 10 to 14. He argues that children of 10 may be committed of crimes which they are too young and immature to understand. Daily Telegraph (21/06/2010)
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
'David Cameron and George Osborne are behaving like owners of a whelk stall rather than economic managers of a nation with its own currency'.
Samuel Brittan, Financial Times, 18 June