End of year bulletin and seasons greetings

Thank you for your support during 2023

Before we sign-off for the year...

We are working with the Labour MP Kim Johnson, JENGbA and legal experts on a Private Member’s Bill, to narrow the scope of joint enterprise prosecution. The idea for this fresh attempt to change the law emerged during a meeting we hosted in November.

Kim Johnson’s Bill will be debated in Parliament on Friday, 2 February, 2024.

Find out more about Kim Johnson’s Private Member’s Bill here.

We are also continuing to work with partners UNGRIPP and others on pressing for meaningful reform of the awful Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence.

In January 2024 we will be publishing our latest report: How to resolve the IPP crisis for good. The report will assess what campaigners have achieved (and we think the team effort has been amazing), where the government continues to drag its feet (and they sure are dragging those feet), and what needs to be done.

Last week the Probation Inspectorate published a report on what happens when released IPP prisoners are returned (recalled) to prison. Our Director, Richard Garside, offers his thoughts on the report here. Richard also features in the latest episode of the ‘Trapped’ podcast series on the IPP sentence.

Earlier this week, more than a dozen members of the House of Lords called for the government to sort out the injustices of the IPP sentence once and for all. Our friends at UNGRIPP have put together this Twitter thread with some of the highlights from the debate, featuring Lord Moylan, Lord Blunkett and Baroness Burt.

Last week, the Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, the College of Policing, and the Independent Office for Police Conduct published a joint inspection report on suspicionless stop and searches and that lack of scrutiny of stop and search powers. Despite three separate policing organisations all looking at this issue (or perhaps because three organisations looked it it) their conclusions are distinctly underwhelming. Our friends at StopWatch have had this to say about it.

Season of giving

We are very grateful to our network of trusted partners, who help us with a range of stuff, from accountancy to HR, IT support to building maintenance, research and analysis to policy and communications, and much more.

When it comes to the design and typesetting of our publications, we have worked for many years with Kavita Graphics. They do a great job, at a great price, and are always very quick and responsive. The graphic at the top of this email, for instance, is by them. Drop them a line if you’re looking for some design work.

And rest assured, we are sharing information about Kavita Graphics simply because we appreciate what they do for us. We pay them the going rate and they aren’t paying us to share information about their services.

Speaking of money... the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies is a small organisation and we run a tight ship. We want to help build a movement for change, not create a bureaucracy. We are at our best when working with and learning from others.

If you gave us a donation in 2023, thank you very much. If you can afford to make a donation to support our important work, we would be very grateful.

You can also spread the word about our work by forwarding on this bulletin to others and encouraging them to sign up.