Monthly News Bulletin
Email Bulletin April 2013
WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO?
Go compare!
Prof Danny Dorling and Dr Judith Watson spoke at a roundtable on the data used on our life chance comparison website www.comparefutures.org. The event, organised by the Centre and funded by the Nominet Trust, explored young adult life chances across England. We'll be doing more work on this in the coming months.
What's up?
Richard Garside, Director, spoke at a Criminal Justice Alliance debate to discuss the rises and falls of different categories of crime. He argued that the apparent fall in crime rates are better understood when different crime types are looked at separately. You can look at some of the detail in recent blogs on our UK Justice Policy Review website. Making sense of crime trends - here and on why drops in violent crime may not last. For a sound recording of the event, click here.
European Prison Observatory
Arianna Silvestri, Research and Policy Associate and Will McMahon, Deputy Director were in Lisbon this month working with project partners on the European Prison Observatory. To find out more about this project, click here.
Out and about
Richard Garside attended a meeting of the Labour Policy Review group looking at criminal justice issues. He made the point that those countries that are far less reliant on imprisonment as a response to crime are generally more equal, have lower rates of poverty and more generous social security arrangements.
HAVE YOU SEEN?
Disrupting corruption
Prof David Whyte argues that we need to challenge abuses of power in politics, the police and corporate power here.
`Detention doesn't work... for anyone'
Kate Blagojevic of Detention Action outlines the reasons why imprisoning people seeking asylum is not only harmful but a waste of time and money on the Reclaim Justice website.
Attack of the zombies?
Prof Peter Squires of Brighton University argues that there is a `crisis looming' for criminological research where critical and qualitative research traditions are being marginalised over a culture of `market positivism'. Read this free access article `Research prevention and the zombie university' in our most recent edition of Criminal Justice Matters.
Out of line?
The UK's low age of criminal responsibility is out of line with international comparisons explains Becky Randel of Penal Reform International on the Reclaim Justice Network blog.
For the criminology fans out there
The May issue of the British Journal of Criminology is out now covering everything from responsibilisation in youth justice; official bias in intergenerational transmission of criminal behaviour; to China's death penalty. Advance access articles on academic criminology and human rights; workplace safety regulation all available here.
Democracy in action
Dr Nic Groombridge talks about Police and Crime Commissioners after attending a lecture at the University of Hertfordshire given by David Lloyd, Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Hertfordshire on our Works for Freedom website.
A place to meet
We have a wonderful meeting space available for reasonable rates. Check out our website here
TAKE A LOOK AT THIS....
Stop n search
Stopwatch release a film and report on the experiences of being stopped and searched.
Race, crime and the media
Interesting essay in the New Statesman from Alan White
For better or for worse?
Unicef labelled the UK as one of the worst places in the `west' for a child to grow up in. The UK Peace Index suggests that the UK is now a more peaceful place. Meanwhile, the Guardian (28/04/13) reported on a study showing that burglary, vandalism and car theft is down in places with an influx of eastern European migrants.
IN THE NEWS...
A war on benefits
Following the conviction of two parents and an associate for the death of 6 children in a fire, the media played out a heated debate and attack on so called `benefits culture'. Owen Jones wrote on it in the Independent (02/04/13). The Guardian published some insightful letters on `framing the debate on poverty and social exclusion' (08/04/13).
`Isn't it time to abolish most women's prisons?'
Wonders Cathy Newman in the Telegraph (25/04/13)
Hang tough
Justice Secretary Chris Grayling wants prisoners to `work harder' for privileges and a toughening of regimes (30/04/13).
`Metropolitan police still institutionally racist, say black and Asian officers'
In the Guardian, (22/04/13)
Act of terror?
Gemma Atkinson filmed police while they carried out a routine stop-and-search of her boyfriend on the London Underground. She was detained, handcuffed and threatened with arrest under the Terrorism Act (Interview after the arrest in 2009). The incident ended in the court with the police settling the case in 2010. The Guardian, (29/04/13)
Former British PM dies
There was a funeral. And quite a bit of heated debate. BBC News
COMING SOON....
How corrupt is Britain?
There are plenty of reasons to be at our forthcoming conference, organised in collaboration of the University of Liverpool. For starters there's the excellent list of speakers. You will have the opportunity to discuss and debate the multiple ways in which corruption has pervaded many aspects of British life. And it won't cost you much either. Check out the line up here. It takes place on Friday 10th of May in Liverpool.
Seminar: Police corruption, culture and standards
We are holding a seminar on Friday 17 May looking at whether police ethics and integrity are compatible with 'cop culture'. Our Open University colleague Dr Louise Westmarland will be introducing the findings of her recent research. Email
for info and to book a place.
Digital makeover
We are currently revamping our website and communications with a new website up and running in the next 6-8 weeks. Meanwhile, to keep up to date with day to day developments, follow us on
on Twitter @crimeandjustice and Facebook
QUOTES OF THE MONTH
"I can't help but feel this is a direct attack on the area by the Tories. This will not only have effects on Barking and Dagenham it is a cross borough issue - I hope the Council leadership of both boroughs oppose these plans. The Tories have seen a depleted local economy and gone for the jugular under the guise of 'new job opportunities'. It is true that we need more job opportunities in Dagenham and Rainham but this is not the way to introduce them."
Jon Cruddas MP, commenting on plans to build a new prison in his local constituency
"Behind the man with the knife is the man who sold him the knife, the man who did not give him a job, the man who decided that his school did not need funding, the man who closed down the branch plant where he could have worked, the man who decided to reduce benefit levels so that a black economy grew, all the way back to the woman who only noticed `those inner cities' some six years after the summer of 1981, and the people who voted to keep her in office....Those who perpetrated the social violence that was done to the lives of young men starting some 20 years ago are the prime suspects for most of the murders in Britain."
Danny Dorling, Criminal Obsessions (2008)
This bulletin is compiled and edited by Sylwia Szydlowska and Rebecca Roberts. Please send any comments and feedback to
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