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Current Projects:

• Community Sentences
• Crimeinfo
• Grosvenor Scoping Study
• Harm and Society
• Offenders and Education
• Prison, sentencing and crime rates
• Sentencing practice
• Una Padel Award
• What is crime?
• Whose Justice?
• Youth Justice - Youth Justice Audit

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Past Projects:

• Criminal Justice Audit
• Media representation of Asylum Seekers and Refugees
• Poverty and Disadvantage Among Prisoners' Families
• Restorative Justice - Monitoring of Effectiveness of Inside Out's RJ work in prisons
• Young People who Sexually Abuse

Community Sentences Project

The Community Sentences project was set up to investigate and monitor the new Community Order (CO) and the Suspended Sentence Order (SSO) which came into operation in April 2005. The project is funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

Aim

The Community Sentences Project offers rigorous, objective information and critical analysis about the way the sentences are used, the views of practitioners and the impact on specific groups of offenders. This timely project offers a valuable resource to practitioners, researchers and policy makers during a period of great change in probation practice and structures.

Please contact or for more information about the project and relevant publications.

Publications

• The use and impact of the Community Order and the Suspended Sentence Order by George Mair, Noel Cross and Stuart Taylor, March 2007
  This report provides a comprehensive overview of the use and impact of the new order since coming into effect in April 2005. The report includes the views and experiences of probation staff and highlights potential problems and issues which require further attention.
• Community Sentences Digest by Enver Solomon and Max Rutherford, May 2007
  The Community Sentences Digest aims to address the gap in information available about community sentences and the offenders who serve them. It provides a wide range of facts and figures about trends in use of the new sentences over the last decade. In effect it is a detailed assessment of what is known about community sentences in England and Wales today. The digest is a live document and will be updated regularly. The 2nd edition is planned for January 2008.
• The use of the Community Order and the Suspended Sentence Order for Young Adult Offenders by Stephen Stanley, June 2007
  This report looks specifically at young adult offenders, considers whether the new sentences are used differently for this group compared to their use in general, and addresses whether they are being tailored to meet the specific needs of young adults.

Forthcoming publications and current work

• The use and impact of the Community Order and Suspended Sentence Order on women offenders (Planned for January 2008)
• A review of sentencers experiences and views on the new Community Order and Suspended Sentence Order (Planned for January 2008)
• The Community Sentences Digest will be updated every six months
• The experiences and views of offenders serving community sentences (Planned for 2008)
• The Centre will be organising a national event to mark the final year of the project, reflecting on the project's findings and next steps (Planned for 2008)

For information about upcoming publications please contact or call 020 7848 1696.