The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) commissioned the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR) to undertake a qualitative study of offender employment services, with a specific focus on the progress made in the implementation of the recommendations of the joint DWP/Ministry of Justice (MOJ) offender employment review.
Evidence collected in this briefing makes the case that the government needs to take urgent steps to limit the unnecessary use of prison, ensuring it is reserved for serious, persistent and violent offenders for whom no alternative sanction is appropriate.
Report of the Chief Inspectors of Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) into the treatment of young victims and witnesses in the criminal justice system (CJS). It has been undertaken as part of the criminal justice Chief Inspectors’ joint inspection programme for 2010-11.
Report that sets out the key recommendations of the Public Audit Committee in relation to the efficiency, economy and effectiveness of two aspects of Scotland‟s criminal justice system, namely the efficient management of cases through summary courts and reducing reoffending.
The second and final paper in the Reform Sector Strategies project funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
The two papers produced as part of this work intend to generate debate among those committed to reducing the prison population on how to tackle prison expansion in England and Wales and bring about a reduction in the prison population in the longer term.
The conviction of some of the perpetrators of the murder of Stephen Lawrence at the start of 2012 has led to a renewed focus on the institutional racism in our criminal justice system; institutional racism that meant that the Lawrence family had to wait over 18 years for any form of justice. Media comment has focused on the headline grabbing disparities in the use of stop and search, recruitment and retention in the police service, and access to justice for victims of racist violence. These are the issues that are addressed in this paper.
The link between social breakdown and crime is well established. In the CSJ’s seminal report Breakthrough Britain, five common drivers of poverty and social breakdown were identified – educational failure, family breakdown, addiction, worklessness and economic dependency, and debt.
In February 2010, the CSJ launched a review of the youth justice system to identify how it might be reformed to improve outcomes for young people, victims and society.
The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) is a large-scale continuous survey measuring people’s experience and perceptions of crime in Scotland, based on 13,000 in-home face-to-face interviews conducted annually with adults (aged 16 or over) living in private households in Scotland.
The results are presented in a series of reports including this one, which provides information on partner abuse. The 2010/11 survey is the third sweep of the SCJS, with the first having been conducted in 2008/09.
‘Bromley Briefings’ produced in memory of Keith Bromley, a valued friend of the Prison Reform Trust and allied groups concerned with prisons and human rights.
His support for refugees from oppression, victims of torture and the falsely imprisoned made a difference to many people’s lives.
In October 2010, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Kenny MacAskill MSP, decided that it was necessary to review key elements of Scottish criminal law and practice in the light of the decision of the United Kingdom Supreme Court in Cadder