Monthly News Bulletin
Email Bulletin September 2011
WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO?
Community sentences: a solution to penal excess?
As the population in custody in England and Wales hits a record high, the Centre has published a paper questioning the role of community sentences in controlling or reducing prison numbers. Community sentences: a solution to penal excess? argues there are inherent limits to what community sentences can achieve beyond relatively minor adjustments to the number in custody. Download a copy of the report here
cjm 85: Women, violence and harm
In the latest issue of Criminal Justice Matters, guest edited by Christina Pantazis, academics and practitioners consider the range of harms perpetrated against women and forms of resistance against these harms both in policy and practice. The topical and comment sections cover a range of contemporary issues including the background to Italian and Libyan relations and the implications for Libya migrants; the role of gossip in society; and payment by results in the criminal justice system. The debating section carries contributors' views on the use of victim personal statements in court. For more click here.
British Journal of Criminology, the September issue is out
William Alex Pridemore dicusses poverty and homicides rates in `Poverty Matters: A Reassessment of the Inequality-Homicide Relationship in Cross-National Studies'. Drink-driving is analyzed by Lars Fynbo and Margaretha Järvinen interviewing a group of convicted drink-drivers; the same theme is dealt by Don Weatherburn and Steve Moffatt studying the deterrent effect of high fines in Australia. Find out more here.
OTHER STUFF
The September issue of The Prison Service Journal (PSJ) is out
We have started hosting the PSJ on our website. Click here to read past and current (focus on young people in custody) issues.
Coalition policy conference
Arianna Silvestri (Policy Associate) attended the `Coalition Policy: Implications for Justice and Equality Conference', held on 8 September at Plymouth University and featuring talks by Professors Danny Dorling, Ruth Levitas and Walter Ben Michaels.
Lorenzo's last bulletin and welcome to Natalie
This month we say goodbye to Lorenzo Del Castillo who has done an excellent job editing the Monthly Bulletin for the past seven months and hello to Natalie Mazin who will be taking over from the October issue.
COMING UP...
Twenty First Eve Saville Memorial lecture
Susie Orbach will be delivering the 21st Eve Saville Memorial lecture
Recession, riots, social change: Can psychotherapy contribute to a policy response? Wednesday 16 November, 6.15 to 7.30 pm
Susie Orbach is a psychoanalyst, writer and activist. In 1976 she co-founded The Women's Therapy Centre and in 1981 The Women's Therapy Centre Institute, a training institute in New York. She's written extensively including Fat is a Feminist Issue, Hunger Strike, The Impossibility of Sex and Bodies. She has been a consultant to the World Bank, Unilever and the NHS and a visiting Professor at the LSE for 10 years. Susie Orbach's work also includes www.endangeredspecieswomen.org.uk
Please email: to register your place.
Planning to attend? For a summary of the issues Susie Orbach will address please click here.
October roundtable event: Non-criminal justice explanations for prison numbers
The Centre is organising a roundtable discussion on Thursday 27 October considering non-criminal justice based explanations for prison numbers and their possible application in work to reduce the use of prison as part of the Reform Sector Strategies project. A limited number of places at the event are available. Please contact
for more details about the event if you are interested in attending.
cjm seminar: `That's not my name: Prisoner deference and disciplinarian prison officers'
A paper by Dr David Scott, University of Central Lancashire Friday 14 October 2011 2pm - 3.15pm. For some background see here. If you would like to register an interest in this seminar please send an e-mail to:
Places will be limited so advance registration is essential so that we are able to send you a personal invitation. The seminar will take place at the Centre's offices in Vauxhall.
My Story: young people talk about the trauma and violence in their lives
Next month the Centre is due to publish the personal life-stories told by young people convicted of grave crimes as children. Edited by Dr Roger Grimshaw (Research Director) with Dr Joseph Schwartz and Rachel Wingfield, the stories describe complex personal experiences of trauma and loss in vivid terms. Any press enquiries please contact
The Una Padel Award 2011
Do you know of an individual or organisation that you feel has made, or shows the potential for making a real contribution to helping improve the lives of people caught up in the criminal justice system, their families and communities. The nomination process for this year's Una Padel Award is now underway. We are inviting nominations by and for individuals and organisations working within the criminal justice field, including charities and community groups, prisons, probation and police. Visit the Una Padel Award page for further details and to download a nomination form.
TAKE A LOOK AT THIS...
Custody deaths to be included in the homicide law
INQUEST welcomes the implementation of the deaths in custody provisions in the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act. For more click here.
A long term rise in child sex offence convictions has been reported
For more click here. Also, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation says calls by internet offenders to its helpline quadrupled since January 2005, from 124 calls to 493 in 2010.
Big fall in global under five child mortality
The United Nation agency UNICEF has published a report titled `Levels & Trends in Child Mortality', click here to read it.
Inequality, materialism and young-nothing-to-do
UNICEF UK calls for consideration of the pressure of materialistic culture as children don't have enough time with their families. Find out more here. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) puts the UK ninth in the ranking of number of 15 to 19-year-olds with nothing to do. For more see The Daily Telegraph (13/09/2011)
US, incarceration down in 2010
Read here the Justice Policy Institute's factsheet published after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released its annual Uniform Crime Report (UCR).
IN THE NEWS
Police officers and the (non-)streets
One in 20 police officers are doing back-office jobs that could be performed by civilians, wasting £150m a year, says `think tank'. For more see The Daily Telegraph (05/09/2011). Labour is to launch an e-petition in order to push a U-turn over the government's police cuts. For more see The Guardian (31/08/2011). Moreover, the police officers' entry standards have been criticised by a lawyer. For more see the Daily Mail (14/09/2011)
Cigarettes company pushing on data release
Philip Morris is trying to force a British university to publish details of its research on children's attitude toward smoking. For more see The Independent (01/09/2011)
Internal exile for terror suspects
The plan has been widely criticised. For more see The Guardian (02/09/2011)
Time to consider mental health
More than 38 per cent of the European population (164m people) are affected by mental health problems, a study from the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology found. For more see The Guardian (05/09/2011).
The number of depressed women doubled since the 70s `because they try to have it all'. For more see the Daily Mail (05/09/2011)
Riots: research, bill and child imprisonment
There is a strong need for evidence-based research into the causes of the riots rather than speculation and rhetoric. For more see The Guardian (06/09/2011). Taxpayers are paying £140m for extra policing and compensating businesses. See The Independent (07/09/2011) for more.
8 per cent more children are in prison due to riots-related convictions. For more see The Guardian (09/09/2011)
Private security officers accused of racism
G4S' officers have been accused of using `offensive and sometimes racist language' while removing failed asylum seekers. For more see The Independent (06/09/2011)
Squatting confirmed as non-crime
A judge said squatting could be considered useful as it helps occupying empty houses. For more see the Daily Mail (06/09/2011)
Concern on the forensics service closure
The service will stop taking fresh work at the start of October. For more see The Guardian (09/09/2011)
Kettling legitimised by High Court judges?
For more see The Independent (09/09/2011)
Lower incomes to suffer the recession more
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) claims that George Osborne's austerity programme will lead to inequality and rise in child poverty. For more see The Guardian (12/09/2011) and click here to read the IFS' study on the effects of the `Great Recession'.
Critics on Clarke's 'no win, no fee' agreements
International charities say the bill `will have a devastating effect on access to justice for the overseas victims of human rights abuses by UK multinational companies'. For more see The Guardian (13/09/2011)
`The largest prison privatisation programme in US history'...
In order to reduce the budget deficits: Florida is set to privatise 29 prisons. For more see the Financial Times (20/09/2011)
COMMENT
Housing crisis
The Independent (08/09/2011) calls for a brave intervention in order to create more suitable houses and stop the housing crisis.
Good luck Bernard Hogan-Howe
Read The Guardian (13/09/2011) on the appointment of the new Metropolitan police commissioner. He has announced `smart' changes to the stop and search policy. For more see The Guardian (16/09/2011)
Muslims and terror laws
Mehdi Hasan argues that the fear of criminalisation forces Muslims into silence. For more see The Guardian (09/08/2011)
Metropolitan Police's gifts
Mary Dejevsky questions if all the gifts accepted by the Metropolitan Police were strictly necessary. For more see The Guardian (16/09/2011)
PICTURE OF THE MONTH
Happy raid
Officers from Merseyside police's gun crime posing during a raid in a house. For more see The Guardian (05/08/2011)
CARTOON OF THE MONTH
`Broken Britain'
Click here to see Ingram Pinn's cartoon on riots.
QUOTE(S) OF THE MONTH
`I can't always remember their names, but in my nightmares I can see their faces'.
Ex-Georgia prisons head on executions he oversaw. For the speech in full click here.
`I thought women and cocaine was the best way to get myself into this social set'.
Statement to the Italian police by Fabio Tarantini, accused of procuring escorts for Berlusconi in exchange of favours for business contracts. Daily Mail (20/09/2011)
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