Weekly academic research summary
LATEST RESEARCH: This summary curates the key policing-related research that's been published online in the last week, with links to the original journal articles, and selected abstracts.
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.
ANALYSIS: Police officers in many jurisdictions are trained to be in a “state of heightened alert” when on patrol, both to detect and prevent crime, and for self-preservation; but Prof Jesse Cheng of DePaul University College of Law in Chicago argues that such an approach can lead officers into “addictive hypervigilance” behaviours which significantly increase the unwarranted use of force.
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 harm reduction, diversion, and policing mental health; in the fifth in a series of seven articles, Policing Insight’s Thomas James looks at GLEPHA’s report on a range of programmes tackling violence against women and girls.
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.
INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, Policing Insight’s Dr Chris Allen spoke to Dr Mariola Marzouk, co-founder of trade-based money laundering (TBML) specialists Vortex Risk, about the dangers of failing to understand the practicalities of TBML, going back to the drawing board to tackle money laundering, and why celebrating the successes against ‘stupid’ money launderers is a false reality.
FEATURE: The latest report from Statistics Canada shows that firearm-related violent crime in the country has reached a 14-year high, with shooting homicides reaching record levels, prompting calls for more resources to be put into frontline policing, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.
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: In the latest in the new series of The Police Student focusing on Criminology in Policing, Policing Insight Academic Editor Dr Carina O’Reilly explores right realist perspectives, rational actors, and the development of a societal ‘underclass’.
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.
OPINION: Social media platforms are flooded with millions of posts every minute, and artificial intelligence (AI) can play a crucial role in monitoring harmful content; Professor Stuart Macdonald, Postdoctoral Researcher Ashley Mattheis and Honorary Research Associate David Wells of Swansea University’s Cyber Threats Research Centre look at the potential and the pitfalls of using AI to identify terrorist content online.
FEATURE: The conflict between Israel and Hamas has seen huge increases in hate crimes (both Islamophobia and antisemitism) around the world; but the sharp rise in antisemitic attacks reflects a trend that predates the current crisis in Gaza, prompting the launch of an EU strategy on targeting antisemitism and a call for police and others to collaborate on protecting Jewish places of worship, schools, and community gatherings, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.
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.
INTERVIEW: Police personnel and their families continue to be at risk from online hate and harmful threats; Professor Petra Bayerl from the Centre of Excellence in Terrorism, Resilience, Intelligence & Organised Crime Research (CENTRIC), explained to Policing Insight how a ground-breaking project with six police forces is seeking to better understand the challenges, risks and harms police officers and their families face when online.
ANALYSIS: Research in Kenya and more widely across Africa has highlighted low public trust in police and a prevailing perception of corruption, and that lack of trust in Kenyan police has been expressed more keenly by those living in urban areas; Professors Kristine Höglund and Emma Elfversson of Uppsala University explore the reasons for the differences between urban and rural communities, the implications for police reform, and what can be done to address the issue.
FEATURE: A new Home Office-funded project from the Canterbury Centre for Policing Research (CCPR) explores the experiences of those tackling violence against women and girls in Kent’s night-time economy; it finds that police feel “understaffed and stretched”, with concerns about the safety of ‘single-crewed’ officers at night and mixed relationships with essential local security staff, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.
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.
OPINION: After several years of declining road deaths in pursuit of Vision Zero, road fatalities in Australia in 2023 reached levels not seen in nearly a decade; Senior Lecturer Dr Milad Haghani of UNSW Sydney believes that more focused and tailored safety campaigns together with closer monitoring of the community road safety climate can help to get Australia back on track.