Criminal justice

FEATURE: In January the Global Law Enforcement & Public Health Association (GLEPHA) published a series of reports as part of the ‘Envisaging the future of policing and public health’ project, covering a range of topics including harm reduction, diversion, and policing mental health; in the sixth in a series of seven articles, Policing Insight’s Thomas James looks at GLEPHA’s report on policing key populations.

ANALYSIS: Last week’s publication of the first part of the Angiolini Inquiry report highlighted significant concerns around misogyny, misconduct, and toxic cultures in policing in England and Wales; the findings echo previous research of female officers’ lived experiences by Senior Criminology Lecturer Dr Emma Cunningham, who believes policing needs support from outside experts to tackle misogyny and misconduct, and that change should begin with acceptance of the terms institutionalised racism and misogyny.

FEATURE: New research by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and social justice group Equally Ours has found that existing ‘myth-busting’ messaging used to refute rape misconceptions actually reinforces those beliefs; instead researchers have called for a ‘suspect-centric’ and values-based approach across the CPS as well as wider criminal justice organisations including the police, the Law Commission and the Home Office, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: A recent report from the European Commission into the implementation of the Terrorist Content Online (TCO) Regulation has found that EU member states are making good use of the tool, with around 350 orders issued by authorities to service providers to remove online terrorist content, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

FEATURE: Comments and experiences of the criminal justice system shared by the families of murder victims highlighted some harrowing ordeals; now a new analysis of their stories using an AI-based methodology developed by Professor Jonathan Crego has highlighted key themes and opportunities for greater support and dignity, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: Law enforcement is increasingly looking to new technology – particularly surveillance cameras, artificial intelligence and facial recognition – in the fight against crime; but Dr Joanna Pozzulo, Chancellor’s Professor at Canada’s Carleton University, argues that legislation must keep up to protect people’s rights and privacy, along with greater public transparency and more research into the impact of technology on the criminal justice system.

FEATURE: Further progress was made recently on laying the groundwork for the European Union’s AI Act, legislation that is due to come into place next year and is being watched by politicians, suppliers, campaign groups and police; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the latest developments in the progress of the Act, and the implications for law enforcement in the UK and more widely.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Debbie Kettle talks about the collaboration and research that has underlined the importance of multi-agency cohesion in providing adequate and efficient victim support.

FEATURE: The early findings of a joint inspection by HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and HM Inspector of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services into case building by police and the CPS has found bureaucratic processes and IT challenges as well as an inexperienced workforce are creating barriers and tensions between the two organisations – but the closer working relationships of specialist teams could bring real benefits, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: The recent acid attack on a mother and her children in London was horrific, but sadly such events are not isolated incidents, with attacks on the rise in the UK and around the world; one of the problems, argues University of Bristol Professor of Criminology Aisha K Gill, is that the gendered, targeted nature of this violence is often not fully recognised by the criminal justice system.

ANALYSIS: Last year the UK Government reformed the National Referral Mechanism – the framework for identifying potential victims of modern slavery – in an effort to speed up decision making and police action against those accused of exploitation; but Research Assistant Ying Zhang and Professor Chee Yew Wong of the University of Leeds argue that the reforms have actually made the situation considerably worse for potential victims.

FEATURE: An operation launched by Thames Valley Police to use in-house drug testing in possession with intent to supply cases has cut delays in bringing cases to court, improved outcomes and proved effective in taking dealers off the street, with other forces now looking to implement the same approach, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: Last month’s Annual Youth Justice Statistics for 2022-23 showed fewer children sentenced or cautioned, improvements in disproportionality, and the lowest number of children in custody, but more children being stopped and searched and arrested, including those entering the criminal justice system for the first time; Keith Fraser, Youth Justice Board Chair and Board Champion for Over-Represented Children believes that while there are “rays of optimism” in the figures, much more need to be done to embed change.

FEATURE: Recent surveys of NHS staff have highlighted increased levels of violence and abuse towards those working in healthcare, prompting concerns over staff wellbeing as well as recruitment and retention issues; former Ottawa Police Service Chief Vernon White looks at the scale of the problem, it’s wider impact for emergency services, and what steps organisations should take to address the issue.

FEATURE: Speaking at the Canterbury Centre for Policing Research’s annual conference, Dr Emma Williams – Director of the Open University’s the Centre for Policing Research and an academic with years of experience exploring the police approach to rape cases – gave her overview of why reform in this area is so difficult to get right, and her hopes that Operation Soteria could provide the path to progress, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

OPINION: A recent Policing Insight article highlighted significant differences in the response to domestic violence disclosure applications in England and Wales; but Allan Dorans MP, the Scottish National Party’s spokesperson on policing at Westminster and a former Detective Inspector with the Metropolitan Police, believes a similar disclosure scheme in Scotland has been much more successful, as have wider efforts to reduce violent crime north of the border.

ANALYSIS: Last month the Global Law Enforcement & Public Health Association (GLEPHA) published a series of reports as part of the ‘Envisaging the future of policing and public health’ project, covering a range of topics including violence prevention, mental health, and policing marginalised communities; in the second in a series of seven articles, Policing Insight’s Thomas James looks at GLEPHA’s report on harm reduction programmes and policing partnerships in countries from Kenya and Kyrgyzstan to Scotland and South Africa.

ANALYSIS: This month the Global Law Enforcement & Public Health Association (GLEPHA) published a series of reports as part of the ‘Envisaging the future of policing and public health’ project, covering a range of topics including violence prevention, mental health, and policing marginalised communities; in the first in a series of seven articles, Policing Insight’s Thomas James looks at GLEPHA’s report on diversion, defection and referral programmes, including examples from the UK, US, South Africa, Italy, Vietnam, Belarus and Ukraine.

FEATURE: Polygraphs – or lie detector tests – are considered by some to be the preserve of fictional cop shows; but at the recent Canterbury Centre for Policing Research’s annual conference, two Northumbria University academics explained how these scientifically unsound tools are becoming more commonplace in British policing, seemingly with little debate or openness about their use, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

OPINION: Retail staff have increasingly been subjected to violence and abuse, partly as a result of the growth in shoplifting, prompting calls from the industry and unions for a new offence of assaulting a shop worker; but Penelope Gibbs, Director of campaign group Transform Justice, warns that the a move would do nothing to reduce the number of attacks, suggesting that a better police response to such assaults and perpetrators dealt with out of court where possible would be much more effective.

FEATURE: Delivering the keynote address at the Canterbury Centre for Policing Research’s annual conference, Kent Chief Constable Tim Smith identified the problems facing policing at a national and local level – including concerns about politicisation, funding challenges, and a highly inexperienced workforce post-Uplift, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

ANALYSIS: Police in England and Wales have the power to warn someone when they know their partner poses a real risk of danger under what is known as Clare’s Law, but the level of disclosures varies hugely between forces; research by University of Essex Criminology and Ethics Lecturer Dr Katerina Hadjimatheou suggests that lack of resources, data sharing concerns and cultural resistance within policing all contribute to the problem.

FEATURE: A roundtable of UK politicians, experts and corporate partners has urged businesses to be more open about their experiences with modern slavery in supply chains, and called for an overhaul of existing legislation, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: A new joint report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, and HM Inspectorate of Probation into victims’ services has found that despite agencies recognising the need to improve services for victims, poor communications and a focus on meeting the Victims’ Code meant that the findings highlighted ‘depressingly familiar’ shortcomings, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.