An article presented the findings of a national evaluation of the crime strand of the New Deal for Communities programme, focusing on geographical displacement. There was virtually no evidence of displacement around the NDC partnerships: but there was relatively widespread diffusion of benefit from the programme to neighbouring areas. Fears of policy-makers and practitioners that area-based initiatives would cause geographical displacement of social problems to nearby areas appeared to be unfounded, and diffusion of benefit seemed much more likely.
Source: Adam Whitworth and David McLennan, 'Geographical displacement or diffusion of benefit around area-based interventions? Evidence from the New Deal for Communities', People, Place & Policy, Volume 4 Issue 3
Links: Article
Date: 2010-Dec
The government began consultation on proposals to improve statistics issued by the Ministry of Justice, including moving to a single measure of reoffending.
Source: Consultation on Improvements to Ministry of Justice Statistics, Consultation Paper CP15/10, Ministry of Justice
Links: Consultation document | MOJ press release
Date: 2010-Nov
A new book examined the rapid expansion of the scope of criminal sanctions. It considered the principles and goals that should guide decisions about what kinds of conduct were to be criminalized, and the forms that criminalization should take.
Source: Antony Duff, Lindsay Farmer, Sandra Marshall, Massimo Renzo and Victor Tadros (eds.), The Boundaries of the Criminal Law, Oxford University Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Nov
A paper examined the links between large sporting events and criminal behaviour, focusing on football matches in London. Only property crime significantly increased in the communities hosting football matches. There were no changes in the incidence of violent offences.
Source: Olivier Marie, Police and Thieves in the Stadium: Measuring the (multiple) effects of football matches on crime, DP1012, Centre for Economic Performance/London School of Economics
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Nov
An article examined the associations between emotion, crime, and morality, based on recordings of two community groups meeting in a deprived inner-city area with high rates of crime.
Source: John Cromby, Steven Brown, Harriet Gross, Abigail Locke and Anne Patterson, 'Constructing crime, enacting morality: emotion, crime and anti-social behaviour in an inner-city community', British Journal of Criminology, Volume 50 Number 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Sep
A study found that most of the relationship between violent crime and serious mental illness could be explained by alcohol and substance abuse.
Source: Seena Fazel, Paul Lichtenstein, Martin Grann, Guy Goodwin and Niklas Langstr m, 'Bipolar disorder and violent crime: new evidence from population-based longitudinal studies and systematic review', Archives of General Psychiatry, Volume 67 Number 9
Links: Abstract | Oxford University press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Nursing Times report
Date: 2010-Sep
A new book examined the nature of the relationship between mental disorder and crime.
Source: Jill Peay, Mental Health and Crime, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Sep
A new book examined the extent to which criminal desistance – the change process involved in the ending of criminal behaviour – was affected by personal and social circumstances that were place-specific. It considered why large numbers of prisoners in the United States and the United Kingdom appeared to be drawn from – and after release returned to – certain urban neighbourhoods.
Source: Nick Flynn, Criminal Behaviour in Context: Space, place and desistance from crime, Willan Publishing
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Aug
A new book examined the relationship between social class and crime. The same factors that helped to determine a person's class level also helped to determine that person's risk of committing criminal acts.
Source: Anthony Walsh, Social Class and Crime: A biosocial approach, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Aug
A report said that both the British Crime Survey and police-recorded crime data showed falls in overall crime in 2009-10 compared with 2008-09.
Source: John Flatley, Chris Kershaw, Kevin Smith, Rupert Chaplin and Debbie Moon (eds.), Crime in England and Wales 2009/10: Findings from the British Crime Survey and police recorded crime, Statistical Bulletin 12/10, Home Office
Links: Bulletin | Home Office press release | Telegraph report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Jul
A report made available the first estimates of victimization derived from extending the British Crime Survey to children aged 10-15 in households in England and Wales. Estimates ranged from 404,000 to 2,153,000 incidents, depending on the definitions used.
Source: Bryce Millard and John Flatley (eds.), Experimental Statistics on Victimisation of Children Aged 10 to 15: Findings from the British Crime Survey for the year ending December 2009, Statistical Bulletin 11/10, Home Office
Links: Bulletin | Home Office press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2010-Jun
A paper examined the relationship between immigration and crime, based on data from two recent waves of immigration. The first wave (in the late 1990s/early 2000s) led to a small rise in property crime, although the second wave (after 2004) did not. There was no observable effect on violent crime for either wave.
Source: Brian Bell, Stephen Machin and Francesco Fasani, Crime and Immigration: Evidence from large immigrant waves, DP984, Centre for Economic Performance/London School of Economics
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Jun
The UK Statistics Authority published a review about overcoming barriers to trust in crime statistics for England and Wales.
Source: Overcoming Barriers to Trust in Crime Statistics: England and Wales, UK Statistics Authority
Links: Report | UKSA press release
Date: 2010-May
A study examined trends in serious violence using data on those treated for violence-related injuries in hospital emergency departments and walk-in centres in England and Wales. According to these data, serious violence decreased by 0.4 per cent in 2009 compared with 2008. Apart from a 7 per cent increase in 2008 there had been decreases in every year since 2001, according to this measure.
Source: Vaseekaran Sivarajasingam, JP Wells, Simon Moore and Jonathan Shepherd, Violence in England and Wales 2009: An Accident and Emergency Perspective, Violence and Society Research Group/Cardiff University
Links: Report | ADCS press release | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | Children & Young People Now report | Nursing Times report
Date: 2010-Apr
An article examined whether rural crime concern was evidence of an 'exclusive society' in the countryside.
Source: Richard Yarwood, 'An exclusive countryside? Crime concern, social exclusion and community policing in two English villages', Policing and Society, Volume 20 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Mar
A briefing note examined trends in crime since 1997 by reference to the British Crime Survey and police-recorded crime data. The latter was not viewed as a reliable indicator of trends, as the number of offences recorded could be affected by various factors. Total recorded crime in England and Wales, adjusted for the changes to crime-recording practices, was estimated to be 18.6 per cent lower in 2008-09 than in 1997-98.
Source: Gavin Berman, Trends in Crime Since 1997, Standard Note SN/SG/5390, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Mar
The UK Statistics Authority criticized statements by the opposition Conservative Party about trends in violent crime. It said that a comparison, without qualification, of police-recorded statistics between the late 1990s and 2008-09 was 'likely to mislead the public'.
Source: Letter from Michael Scholar (Chair of UK Statistics Authority) to Chris Grayling MP (Shadow Secretary of State for Home Affairs), 4 February 2010
Links: Text of letter (1) | Text of letter (2) | UKSA press release | BBC report
Date: 2010-Feb