News | Centre for Crime and Justice Studies

News

Call for delay to government probation plans

Our Director, Richard Garside, is one of eight signatories on a letter to the Justice Secretary, David Gauke, calling for him to 'pause and reconsider' the government's plans re-let probation contracts to private companies.

The call comes in the wake of a damning National Audit Office report last week, which concluded that the Ministry of Justice 'should pause and reflect on whether its propsed approach is both deliverable and consistent with its strategic aims for the probation system'.

The seven...

News

Radzinowicz Prize 2018

The Editorial Board of the British Journal of Criminology award the Radzinowicz Prize each year to the person who ‘most contributes to knowledge of criminal justice issues and the development of criminology’.

The prize, named in honour of criminologist Sir Leon Radzinowicz, is one of the most prestigious awards in criminology.

The 2018 prize is awarded jointly to the authors of the following articles:

...

News

Knife crime: a national emergency?

The Centre's director, Richard Garside, commented on knife crime trends and measures to tackle violence in yesterday's Guardian.

Richard said it was inaccurate to describe the spate of knife crime as a national emergency, adding:

It’s a very small number of the general population that’s either being victimised by this or in fear of their lives. It’s why these incidents seem quite shocking and why
...

News

Stop and search has no impact on crime, new report

Police stop and search practices have virtually no impact on crime levels, according to the latest briefing out today from the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies.

Does stop and search reduce crime? by Professor Ben Bradford and Dr Matteo Tiratelli explores an aspect of stop and search which has rarely been subject to analysis: the effectiveness of stop...

News

Statement on transgender prisoners

The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies focuses on the education of the public around issues relating to the criminal justice system across the UK.

We seek to encourage calm, respectful and informed public dialogue, where differing positions are explored and principled differences are recognised and discussed.

We base our positions on many years’ experience in the field of criminal justice, grounded in our values as an organisation....

News

Antisocial behaviour research cited in new report

The centre's research on antisocial behaviour powers and young adults has been cited in the latest research from the Institute of Race Relations.

Published last summer, Antisocial behaviour powers young adults is a two-part research briefing analysing how three key antisocial behaviour powers...

News

Centre's research on stop and search cited

Our research on stop and search has been cited in a parliamentary debate on serious violence as to the limited effectiveness of stop and search on crime reduction.

Last year's report, Young people, violence and knives evaluated recent trends in knife crime and the effectiveness of different policy responses in...

News

Centre's director in the New York Times

The Centre's director, Richard Garside, was quoted in the New York Times last week.

The article explores the effects of austerity on policing in the UK, where police are increasingly being used to deal with the rising numbers of non-crime-related emergency calls in the context of fewer officers and sustained budget cuts since 2010. Additionally, social services have suffered...

News

Joint call for closure of Medway secure training centre

The Centre's director, Richard Garside, is co-signatory of a letter calling for Medway's closure.

After Panorama's revelations three years ago of the abuse taking place in G4S-run Medway secure training centre, the latest Ofsted inspection report found that pain-inducing restraint techniques are still being used.

The letter is part of a wider campaign against child imprisonment led...

News

Centre's research on anti-social behaviour cited

The Fifteenth Special Report, Controlling dangerous dogs, has used the Centre's research briefing, Anti-social behaviour powers and young adults (2018) to inform its review of the effectiveness of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.

In relation to dog-related anti-social behaviour, our briefing found that:

...in a sample of 73 local authorities, the single biggest category for issuing a CPN (29%) to young persons was for animal related reasons and of those, most were dog related
...

News

Drill music not a criminal offence

The Centre's director, Richard Garside, is co-signatory to a letter in Sunday's Guardian criticising police use of so-called 'drill-injunctions'.

The letter calls on the Metropolitan Police to desist with issuing injunctions for drill music, stating that such measures are counterproductive and a threat to freedom of expression.

News

Holloway prison update

The private developer that owns the Territorial Army site next to Holloway prison is now stating they can offer only 30 per cent of their development for affordable housing, reports the Islington Tribune.

This is despite the 50 per cent minimum set by Islington Council.

Islington Council and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government won a landmark case last year against the developer which was trying to override the council’s affordable housing requirements in residential...