“SAFETY IS FREEDOM FROM TRAUMA”: LESSONS FROM THE BROWNSVILLE COMMUNITY JUSTICE CENTER

This interview with one of the leaders of the Brownsville Community Justice Center explores how the innovative project in Brooklyn, New York is working to promote community health and safety without conventional law enforcement strategies. The article also provides an overview of the history of community justice centres in both the US and the UK, including the short-lived North Liverpool Community Justice Centre. 

Paedophile Hunters: Implications for Police Courts and Probation

Whilst public naming and shaming of those convicted of sexual offences against children is not a new phenomenon, the rise in popularity of the internet and the surge in content available online is. Increased accessibility to information made available by paedophile hunters has implications on all aspects of the criminal justice system...

CALL FOR PAPERS: Race and Criminal/Community Justice

What explains the persistence of ethnic and racial disparities within the criminal justice system in the UK and other jurisdictions and how should they be addressed? Whilst there is far reaching agreement that such disparities exist and need to be eliminated or mitigated, the explanations for these differential outcomes are more contested.

A RAPID EVIDENCE ASSESSMENT TO ASSESS THE OUTCOMES OF COMMUNITY AND CUSTODY DELIVERED VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMMES ON REOFFENDING

We undertook a Rapid Evidence Assessment to assess the outcomes of vocational training and employment programmes on reoffending. A meta-analysis of a subset of the most methodologically robust studies found that vocational training and employment programmes were associated with 9 percent fewer programme participants reoffending, when compared with nonparticipants. Studies conducted in the UK were associated with 6 percent fewer programme participants reoffending. However the expected high degree of observed statistical heterogeneity amongst the analysed studies suggests considerable variation in programme effects on recidivism outcomes. It is also possible that publication bias inherent in the reviewed studies may mean that in real terms reductions in recidivism would be marginally lower than our headline findings suggest. This is the first review of this type to combine a review of custodial and community settings, to include a meta-analysis, and to include a number of UK studies.

Editorial (Volume 17, Issue 1)

Reflecting on the findings and recommendations of the MacPherson report, this is the first of a two-part special issue which examines the processes of hate crime (the term now used to include all crime motivated or aggravated by prejudice, not just racism) from the perspectives of victims, victim services, the criminal justice system and perpetrators.

An Exploratory Study of Understandings and Experiences of Implementing Restorative Practice in Three UK Prisons

This paper highlights how qualitative research can enhance causal explanation in impact evaluations and provide additional causal leverage to findings from randomised experiments.

Restorative Justice and the State. Untimely Objections Against the Institutionalisation of Restorative Justice

This paper highlights how qualitative research can enhance causal explanation in impact evaluations and provide additional causal leverage to findings from randomised experiments.

Giving Back’ by ‘Paying Back’: Financial Restitution Through Community Payback Co-operative

This paper highlights how qualitative research can enhance causal explanation in impact evaluations and provide additional causal leverage to findings from randomised experiments.