An audit report in Scotland said that major changes were needed in order to tackle reoffending in Scotland. There was a mismatch between what was delivered and what was known to work.
Source: Reducing Reoffending in Scotland, Audit Scotland
Links: Report | Audit Scotland press release | BBC report | Public Finance report
Date: 2012-Nov
An article examined socio-economic inequalities in homicide mortality across Europe. The analysis focused on the 35-64 age group. Educational inequalities in homicide mortality were present in all countries. Absolute inequalities in homicide mortality were larger in the eastern part of Europe and in Finland, consistent with their higher overall homicide rates. Relative inequalities were high in the northern and eastern part of Europe. Patterns were less consistent among women. Socio-economic inequalities in homicide were thus a universal phenomenon in Europe. Wide-ranging social and inter-sectoral health policies were needed to address the risk of violent victimization, targeting both potential offenders and victims.
Source: Andrew Stickley et al., 'Socioeconomic inequalities in homicide mortality: a population-based comparative study of 12 European countries', European Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 27 Number 11
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Nov
A report examined trends in reoffending in Scotland, England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Norway, and New Zealand. A 'typical' range of re-offending (measured via re-imprisonment) in national studies was 30–50 per cent).
Source: Sarah Armstrong and Fergus McNeill, Reducing Reoffending: Review of selected countries, Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Nov
The government began consultation on whether the way crime outcomes were recorded should be broadened to better reflect the work police officers did. If implemented, the new framework would recognize 'community resolutions' – where officers used local restorative approaches, such as painting over graffiti, to resolve low-level crime. The consultation also asked whether the new framework should show the reasons why certain crimes were not prosecuted.
Source: Consultation on a Revised Framework for Recorded Crime Outcomes, Home Office
Links: Consultation document | Hansard | Home Office press release
Date: 2012-Oct
A new book examined the group processes involved in crime. It considered whether people were more likely to commit crime because of the influence of their group; whether group membership caused people to become criminals, or whether the group merely fostered people's pre-existing criminal inclinations; and how group membership exerted such a strong hold on people so that some risked imprisonment, or even death, rather than relinquish it.
Source: Jane Wood and Theresa Gannon (eds), Crime and Crime Reduction: The Importance of Group Processes, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Aug
An article examined the policy implications of a decline in crime in developed countries, focusing on the relationship between crime reduction and social welfare.
Source: Paul Knepper, 'An international crime decline: lessons for social welfare crime policy?', Social Policy and Administration, Volume 46 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jul
An article examined the findings from a review of the theoretical and empirical literature on the links between crime and fear of crime, the social and built environment, and health and well-being. Crime and fear of crime might have substantial impacts on well-being: but the pathways were often highly indirect, mediated by environmental factors, difficult to disentangle, and not always in the expected direction. The built environment, for example, might affect health via its impacts on health behaviours; its effects on crime and fear of crime; or the social environment. There were also unexpected factors that might affect intervention success, such as the risk of adverse effects from crime prevention interventions as a result of raising awareness of crime.
Source: Theo Lorenc, Stephen Clayton, David Neary, Margaret Whitehead, Mark Petticrew, Hilary Thomson, Steven Cummins, Amanda Sowden, and Adrian Renton, 'Crime, fear of crime, environment, and mental health and wellbeing: mapping review of theories and causal pathways', Health and Place, Volume 18 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jun
A new book examined the motivations behind crime and deviance. It looked at the changing patterns of harm; the adoption and abandonment of specific social theories within criminology; and the application of new continental philosophy to the criminological problem.
Source: Steve Hall, Theorizing Crime and Deviance: A new perspective, SAGE Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-May
A report examined the extent of (and perceptions towards) hate crime; use of the internet and cyber security; and the experience of crime among children aged 10-15.
Source: Kevin Smith (ed.), Deborah Lader, Jacqueline Hoare, and and Ivy Lau, Hate Crime, Cyber Security and the Experience of Crime Among Children: Findings from the 2010/11 British Crime Survey – Supplementary Volume 3 to Crime in England and Wales 2010/11, Statistical Bulletin 06/12, Home Office
Links: Bulletin | Home Office press release
Date: 2012-Mar
An article examined the feasibility of estimating fear of crime down to small-area level across England. Most of the variance in individuals' fear of crime was within rather than between small areas, however – calling into question the logic of area-based policies to tackle fear of crime.
Source: Adam Whitworth, 'Sustaining evidence-based policing in an era of cuts: estimating fear of crime at small area level in England', Crime Prevention & Community Safety, Volume 14 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Feb
The police service inspectorate said that the majority of police forces in England and Wales were performing well in terms of the quality of crime and incident data, and some progress had been made since a previous report in 2009: but there remained wide variations in accuracy.
Source: The Crime Scene: A review of police crime and incident reports, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary
Links: Report | HMIC press release | ACPO press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Jan
An article examined the relationship between inequality and five crime types at sub-national level across England. Controlling for other factors, inequality was positively associated with higher levels of all five crime types.
Source: Adam Whitworth, 'Inequality and crime across England: a multilevel modelling approach', Social Policy and Society, Volume 11 Issue 1
Links: Article | Abstract | SPA press release | Sheffield University press release
Date: 2012-Jan