Publications on Crime & Justice
Jun
2010
Tuesday 1st June, 2010
Coming Clean: Combating drug misuse in prisons
By Max Chambers
It is an open secret that our prisons, traditionally thought of as secure institutions, are awash with drugs. The easy availability of drugs in prisons undermines treatment programmes, allows prisoners to maintain anti-social habits during their sentence, and leaves them unprepared for release and primed to reoffend. What is less widely known is how drugs worth an estimated £100 million really get in to prisons, and what really goes on inside prisons in an effort to get inmates off drugs and prepared for release.
There is no doubt that significant additional funding was provided during recent years by the previous Government, attempting to both reduce the supply of drugs and to reduce demand for them through engaging prisoners in treatment programmes. However, this report contends that there are a series of fundamental problems with the way these issues are approached – and that despite repeated warning signs, the Prison Service appears destined to continue down the same failed path.
Press Coverage
• The Guardian • The Express • The Express II • Daily Mail
• Channel 4
• ConservativeHome • BBC News • The Spectator • The Metro • Legal News Central • Medical News Today • Belfast Telegraph • Telegraph & Argus • Plymouth Herald
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Feb
2010
Sunday 7th February, 2010
A State of Disorder: Moving beyond the ASBO in tackling anti-social behaviour
By Max Chambers
Anti-social behaviour is inherently difficult to tackle. It covers a whole range of behaviour (some, but not all of it criminal), is hard to define, even harder to measure, is not the responsibility of any one agency and has a variety of social and economic causes. Making a real impact is possible, but it will require a new approach – one which:
• emphasises the importance of local leadership and self-governance;
• reinvigorates local policing through enhanced accountability and freedom from central direction;
• encourages personal and community responsibility through building social capital; and
•is based on the best available evidence about what works to reduce anti-social behaviour.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Nov
2009
Thursday 12th November, 2009
Partners in Crime
By Max Chambers
Contributions from Ian Barnes
Edited by Natalie Evans
Home Office micromanagement has undermined public confidence in the service and weakened the historic bonds between the policy and the communities they serve.
Partners in Crime calls for the introduction of elected police heads, responsible for meeting the needs of local people and revitalising the relationship between the police and the public.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Aug
2009
Friday 21st August, 2009
Lasting Change or Passing Fad? Problem Solving Justice in England and Wales
Edited by Ben Ullmann
Recently, Governments have sought to address the public’s concerns about crime by importing an innovative crime-fighting strategy from the US known as “problem-solving” justice. This is the idea that the justice system should do more than simply process cases – it should actively seek to aid victims, change the behaviour of offenders, and improve public safety in our neighbourhoods.
This report seeks to identify strategies that reformers can utilise to spread problem-solving justice as broadly as possible in a time of shrinking resources.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Jul
2009
Thursday 16th July, 2009
Arrested Development: Reducing the number of young people in custody while reducing crime
By Max Chambers
Our latest report recommends that local authorities should foot the bill for youth custody places, thereby removing the existing perverse incentive in the system. At present, local authorities have a financial disincentive to keep young people out of prison. Youth custody is funded centrally, meaning that when troubled young people are imprisoned, they are taken out of local agencies’ caseloads and budgets.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
May
2009
Monday 11th May, 2009
Less Crime, Lower Costs
By Max Chambers, Ben Ullmann & Professor Irvin Waller
Edited by Gavin Lockhart.
The estimated cost of crime to the UK is around £78 billion a year. This equates to £3,000 per household every year – an extra 20p on the basic rate of income tax. There is also untold pain, suffering and damage caused to an estimated 10 million victims of crime and their families each year.
The Government’s most recent attempt to set out a strategy for tackling crime – the youth crime action plan – announced unsustained ad hoc funding, did little to clarify responsibility for cutting crime and increased pressures on departmental budgets. The lack of knowledge as to what to do next persists – there is little understanding of how to extend successful pilot trials, how to deliver the right interventions to the right people, or how to encourage and train local practitioners to use evidence-based interventions to prevent crime. A number of structural, financial and political barriers remain and Less Crime, Lower Costs addresses these systemic shortcomings through an anaylsis of prevention programmes that have proved effective and cost-effective in other countries.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Feb
2009
Tuesday 10th February, 2009
Inside Out: the case for improving mental health care across the criminal justice system
By Professor Charlie Brooker & Ben Ullmann.
Edited by Gavin Lockhart.
The story of offenders with mental illness is not confined to prisons. There are a number of other places where offenders with mental illnesses come into contact with the criminal justice system, including police custody, the courts and probation.
Inside Out focuses on contacts at these “non-prison” locations, outlining their limitations in dealing with the mentally disordered, and using examples of good practice from the UK and abroad to suggest improvements.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p or a research note for £4 + £1p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Sep
2008
Thursday 4th September, 2008
You're Hired!
By Gavin Lockhart, Ben Ullmann & Julian Chant.
Each year, in England and Wales, approximately 66,000 offenders will return to society from prison. The estimated total cost of re-offending to society is £13 billion per year. You're Hired investigates ways of encouraging the employment of ex-offenders, thus reducing these figures.
Jul
2008
Tuesday 1st July, 2008
Going Ballistic: dealing with guns, gangs and knives
By Dr Bob Golding & Jonathan McClory.
Edited by Gavin Lockhart.
Murders involving knives and firearms never fail to grab the headlines, yet they are relatively rare. Gun crime represents only 0.4% of all recorded crime in England and Wales. The public are often sceptical, however, when they read figures such as this – and they have reason to be so.
Going Ballistic's findings support four primary arguments: that official crime figures do not reflect the experiences of many communities in England and Wales; that information and intelligence sharing between agencies is lacking; that early intervention and prevention work needs to be targeted and expanded and that the relevant legislation governing gun and knife crime is a mess.
Tuesday 1st July, 2008
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
By Professor Charlie Brooker & Ben Ullmann.
Edited by Gavin Lockhart.
Our prison population is at its highest ever. Of the 82,000 prisoners in England and Wales it is estimated that nine out of ten have one or more mental health disorders. Although treatment of mental illness in prison has improved over the past decade, mental healthcare is not given the attention it deserves. The rates of mental illness among prisoners suggest that the Prison Service has become a catch-all social and mental healthcare service, as well as a breeding ground for poor mental health.
