Monthly News Bulletin
Email Bulletin August and September 2007
Welcome to the Harm and Society project's email bulletin, bringing you a roundup of news, research, political developments, events and updates on our work. As outlined in last month's bulletin, the Crime and Society Foundation is now operating as the `Harm and Society' project at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies. For information, see our website here.
**IMPORTANT INFORMATION** From next month (October 2007) this monthly bulletin will be re-titled as the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies' monthly e-mail bulletin. To introduce these changes will require that the data we have on the Harm and Society / Crime and Society database will be merged with the CCJS database. Whilst both databases have always been owned by CCJS we feel that it is important to inform you of this and ask that, if you wish to be taken off the database before the merger, you tell us by September 30 2007 by e-mailing with `please remove me from the database' in the subject field.
WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO?
CORPORATE FRAUD AND ITS DEVASTATING IMPACTS
On 20 August 2007, Harm and Society published 'Knowledgeable consumers? Corporate fraud and its devastating impacts' by Dr Basia Spalek of the University of Birmingham. In this briefing Dr Spalek draws together the findings from her research on the experiences of people affected by corporate fraud and its long-term impacts. She draws on her research with Maxwell pensioners and those employed by the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), and then reflects on other recent financial scandals such as WorldCom and Enron. This research shows that the harms caused by corporate fraud are equivalent to, and often more devastating than, those usually focused on by the criminal justice system. A copy can be downloaded here. It was covered in a number of newspapers, including the Financial Times and The Times.
COMING SOON....
Later this month we will be publishing `Criminal justice and social justice', a selection of workshop papers from our July conference. In October we will be publishing `The problems of everyday life. Crime and the Civil and Social Justice Survey' written by Dr Vicky Kemp, Prof Pascoe Pleasence and Dr Nigel Balmer of the Legal Services Research Centre.
OUR WORK
See here for further information on our strands of work.
HAVE YOU SEEN?
HOMICIDE TRENDS
As concerns grow about recent cases of homicide involving young people as victims, the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College London released an analysis of recent trends in homicide in England and Wales. The analysis, based on published Home Office figures, shows that, contrary to the commonsense view, the numbers of child victims of has fallen in recent years. It also indicates that that age group most at risk of homicide are babies under the age of one.
The main points of the analysis are:
- 63 children aged 1 to 15 were recorded by the police as being victims of homicide in 1995, compared with 31 in 2005/06
- 17 babies under the age of one were recorded as homicide victims in 1995. This had risen to 24 by 2005/06.
- The group that had experienced the most significant rise in homicide victimisation were the 16-49 age range, up from 429 in 1995 to 513 in 2005/06.
These changes should be viewed against the background of a generally rising trend in homicide over recent decades, analysed in detail in a paper published by the Crime and Society Foundation in 2005. That study pointed out risk of homicide during that period was very unevenly distributed. Those living in the richest neighbourhoods has seen their risk of homicide fall. Those living in the poorest neighbourhoods had seen their risk of homicide rise dramatically. Find out more here.
IN THE NEWS....
TWO VIEWS ON DEALING WITH CRIME
Professor Robert Reiner of the London School of Economics writes to the Independent (27/08/07) arguing that `neo-liberalism is the prime suspect for the damage done' and that `criminal justice, at most, has a tangential effect on crime'. On the other hand, Michael Howard says `We can still beat the yobs, despite Labour's failure'. (Sunday Telegraph, 26/08/07)
12 YEAR-OLD-BOY IN SAUSAGE ATTAC
A 12 year old boy has appeared in court after throwing a cocktail sausage at a man. He denied assault. His defence said it beggars belief and the prosecution said the case will be taken to superiors to review the charge. The judge has questioned whether the charge should have been brought in the first place. (The Times 23/08/07)
HOUSE ARREST
New laws coming into force this month means that children who have been expelled or suspended from school are not allowed outside. Parents who allow them out could face a £100 fine, followed by £1000 for non payment or a community sentence. (Daily Mail 04/09/07). The Dfes press release can be viewed here.
WOULD YOU TAKE HIM ON?
David Leppard and Holly Watt consider the risks of `having a go'. Richard Garside, director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, King's College London, says: `Labour has wobbled over the years on its advice. As Home Secretary in the late 1990s, Jack Straw called on the public to have a go. David Blunkett asked the public to "take a stand" against antisocial behaviour. Now the advice appears to be to call the police. Yet the police can hardly be expected to swoop down on every group of teenagers hanging out in hoodies'. The piece also cites a CCJS study, sponsored by the Times, that pointed out that the British Crime Survey fails to measure far more crimes than it accounts for; and the forthcoming CCJS knife crime report showing a huge rise in the use of knives in muggings. (The Sunday Times, 19/08/07.)
UNEQUAL LIVES
Dr Sebastian Kraemer highlights the high incidence of disease, disability and premature deaths in unequal societies. He says 'seeking greater equality is not only a matter of justice and order in society, it is a matter of life and death'. (The Guardian, 17/08/07). Meanwhile Seamus Milne argues that Minsters accept that the inequality gap is too wide...but refuse to face the cost of political action to tackle it. (The Guardian, 16/08/07.)
CENTRE FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES
SEMINAR SERIES: NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE
The next seminar in the series will be from Peter Neyroud, Chief Executive of the National Policing Improvement Agency on 24 September. To find out more, see here.
CJM: PREVENTION
The autumn/winter issue of CJM on prevention will be available next month. For information, contact
. Information will be available on the CCJS website soon - www.kcl.ac.uk/ccjs .
QUOTES OF THE MONTH
'If it looks like a fraud, sounds like a fraud and quacks like a fraud, it is a fraud'.
Paul Farrelly MP, commenting on the collapse of a money transfer company used by members of the Bangladeshi community and the disappearance of £1.7m which has not made its way to customers' families (The Times 23/07/07).
`Serial killing becomes a useful guide that reveals the limits of our current social arrangements and the inadequacy of our provision for the social and economic protection of the poor and the vulnerable. For if children, young people leaving home, gay men, prostitutes and the elderly are the prime victims of serial killers this is only because we have created a society where... [they]... are also generally the victims of a social and economic system that does not see the value in their lives and routinely excludes them from the protection of the state'.
David Wilson (2007) `Serial Killers', Winchester: Waterside Press