Our strategy

Our vision and the need for our work

Our vision

A fair, effective and accountable justice system, in a society less dominated by criminalisation and punishment, because it has developed better ways of preventing and addressing the problems of crime.

The need for our work

In Britain today, some face an abundance of law. Others face an absence of order. The least powerful regularly endure over-policing, while the most powerful often appear to act with impunity. The justice system concentrates injustice for some, while leaving many injustices unresolved.

This situation breeds fatalism about the possibilities for justice and fairness. A complacent and cynical policy consensus feeds this fatalism, as well as being an expression of it.

A creative, energetic and optimistic challenge is the antidote to the entrenched monotony of repeated policy failure. Grounded in principles of solidarity and the practices of collaboration, it can open up new possibilities for transformational change.
 

Our purpose and approach

Our purpose

We create lively spaces for collaboration and learning, where conventional criminal justice policy agendas are scrutinised and challenged, fresh knowledge and ideas are discussed, and transformational solutions are developed.

Our approach

We prize intellectual openness and a willingness to engage with difficult questions and challenging ideas. We welcome and encourage scrutiny of our work and are comfortable with the uncertainty that comes from not always having the answer. We recognise the importance of building solidarity and common cause, and reject superficial divisiveness and purity politics.

We see improved knowledge and understanding of crime and criminal justice as an inherent good. We also apply this knowledge to concrete policy and practice questions, and see it as a foundation for effective action to achieve meaningful change.

We collaborate with researchers, practitioners, policy specialists, activists, and service-users to deepen understanding of the way the criminal justice system works, explain and critique existing policies and practice, and map out routes to transformational change.

We synthesise knowledge, ideas and insights into engaging publications and events, underpinned by innovative communications and movement-building activities.
 

Our priorities

We will be marking our centenary as an organisation in 2031. This strategy helps to set the direction towards this important anniversary.

Our high-level priorities over the next three years are:

1. To deliver a connected programme of projects, of varying scales, scope and duration, focusing on:
   • improved knowledge of crime and the criminal justice system;
   • particular examples of significant injustice, and areas of strong public interest;
   • the transformations necessary for a shift towards prevention and resolution, and away from criminalisation and punishment.
2. To enhance our capacity to generate, curate and share knowledge, and to diversify, broaden and deepen our collaborations with our members, supporters, partners and collaborators, and with the beneficiaries of our work.
3. To invest in our staff, our organisational infrastructure and our building, as a foundation for the delivery of our overall strategy.
    

Governance and oversight

Our trustees, who are elected by our wider membership, are responsible for the effective governance and oversight of the charity. They are guided by our charitable objects, prevailing laws, regulations, statutory guidance and good practice guidelines.

We understand that strategy needs to be adaptive and reviewed regularly to respond to these volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous times. We include regular strategic oversight discussions in our trustee body business cycle, and review of our strategy on a regular basis.

We will invest in supporting our trustees in their work, support the capacity of the trustee body to operate in a strategic, cohesive and focused manner, and support the process of new trustee recruitment, induction, development and renewal.