News

Our January 2016 ebulletin is out now!

Friday, 29 January 2016

Centre for Crime and Justice Studies January 2016 ebulletin

2016 Eve Saville Memorial Lecture: Has violent crime fallen?

Professor Sylvia Walby will be speaking about her ground-breaking research on Tuesday, 12 April.

Book today to avoid disappointment.

WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO?

Dangerous associations
The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies' latest research report has highlighted how black and minority ethnic people are serving long prison sentences because of unfair and racist criminal justice practices. Authored by Patrick Williams and Becky Williams of Manchester Metropolitan University, Dangerous Associations, tracks the complex process of criminalisation through which black and minority ethnic people are unfairly identified by the police as members of dangerous 'gangs'. This apparent 'gang' affiliation is used to secure convictions, under joint enterprise provisions, for offences they have not committed.

Launch events took place in Manchester, Tottenham and the House of Commons. At the parliamentary launch, Andrew Mitchell MP, Andy Slaughter MP and Lord Beith joined the report authors on the panel. Read more about it here.

Do you want to build social justice alternatives to harm?
Our Justice Matters initiative to downsize criminal justice and build policy and practice alternatives is gathering pace. This month we held the first workshops to test out our new toolkit and visual resources for facilitating discussions about short and long term solutions to a range of social problems.

Participants discussed the available policy and practice solutions to harm that sought to prevent, reduce and repair harm without relying on criminal justice. We had professionals, practitioners, researchers and members of the public with an interest in the fields of mental health, domestic violence, education, community safety, restorative justice, policing, probation and imprisonment attend.

If you're interested in finding out more about the toolkit or would like to host a workshop at your organisation or community group please email our Senior Research Associate Rebecca Roberts.

HAVE YOU SEEN?

New terrains of justice
Prison activist Theo Sheiner gives the low-down on the Justice Matters workshop he attended.

Sobering thought
Former Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill MSP argues that lowering the drink drive limit in Scotland has reduced the number of drink drivers, and he says it should be lowered further.

Locked away but not forgotten
Here's Mike Guilfoyle's latest reflection about supervising 'Sam' who had mental health needs and was caught up in the criminal justice system.

Community-based policing
Hal Pepinsky argues that broken-windows policing over in the US should make way for a more community-based solution.

Digging into the data on crime and punishment
Siddhartha Bandyophadhyay of the University of Birmingham writes about his research which shows that neither community sentences nor prison have an effect on crime rates. 

Cheaper and just as good?
Ken Pease argues that badging community sentences as alternatives to custody is fundamentally dishonest.

COMING SOON

Has violent crime fallen? 2016 Eve Saville memorial lecture
At this year's lecture on 12 April Professor Sylvia Walby of Lancaster University will present new ground-breaking research showing that women have faced rising violence in England and Wales since 2009, while men have experienced falling rates of violence.

It's bound to be popular. Book your place today.

The great Centre for Crime and Justice Studies book sale!
We are destocking our library and are inviting members and supporters to take away books and journals, mainly from the 1970s to the 2000s, in return for modest donations. The book sale will take place on 3 February. Read more and register to attend here.

The health of prison staff - what does the evidence tell us?
Recent research studies show that prison officers are suffering ever greater levels of physical and emotional stress and governors speak of long working hours and increased workload. This event on 1 March will discuss the origins of the high levels of stress and low levels of well-being experienced when working in the prison service.

TAKE A LOOK AT THIS.......

Build healthy communities, not prisons
Our friends over at the Reclaim Justice Network have issued a statement calling for the closure and demolition of existing prisons and the land to be handed over to local authority control for social housing. Read more and sign in support in here.

Best research from the US
The Prison Policy Initiative over in the US have put together a list of their fave reports of 2015, which they say provide key research and reforms that could help reduce the overuse of incarceration in the US.

IN THE NEWS.......

G4S claims Panorama filming was illegal
After a Panorama report unearthed evidence of disturbing extensive abuse of children at a children's prison run by G4S, the company argued the filming was unauthorised and illegal. Read more here.

1.2 million women face sexual and physical abuse
A new report by Agenda, the Alliance for Women and Girls at Risk, estimates that one in 20 women in England face physical and/or sexual abuse, reported The Telegraph.

NUMBERS OF THE MONTH

Take a look at the key findings from our report Dangerous associations:

 

QUOTES OF THE MONTH

''Joint Enterprise is a common law used against common people and makes no common sense. This lazy law allows for lazy policing and is the perfect tool for lazy prosecutors. Its continued use has undermined the British legal system to the point that a defendant is now guilty until they can prove themselves innocent. People are serving life sentences for crimes they have not actually committed.'Gloria Morrison, Campaign co-ordinator at JENGbA, commenting on our new report Dangerous associations


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