News

Impact of alternatives to custody examined

Monday, 25 April 2016

The relationship between sentencing practices and the official crime rate was discussed last week at a packed event hosted by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies.

The event – Alternatives to custody: Data and policy perspectives – was organised jointly with the University of Birmingham.

  • Catherine Heard of the Institute for Criminal Policy Research, offered an overview of alternatives to custody across the UK and the rest of Europe.
  • Dr Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay of the University of Birmingham discussed his research on the relationship between non-custodial sentences and police recorded crime.
  • Dr Tim Hope, a Visiting Fellow and the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies critiqued Dr Bandyopadhyay's econometric approach.
  • Savas Hadjipavlou of the Probation Institute argued for the importance of thinking through the movement and flow of criminalised populations through the criminal justice process.
  • Rob Allen, Researcher and consultant on criminal justice summarised the presentation and mapped out some of the future challenges.

Download Catherine Heard, Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay and Tim Hope's presentations below.

Catherine Heard
Alternatives to custody in Europe

Dr Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay
A quantitative analysis of the effectiveness of custody and its alternatives

Dr Tim Hope
The econometrics of criminal justice: Models or muddles?