By Simon Hallsworth

Street crime remains high on the public and political agenda, and is frequently the subject of media attention and concern. This book aims to provide a detailed and accessible account of the phenomenon, placing the subject in its theoretical, historical and political context. It addresses the question of how serious a problem street crime really is, and why it has become such a hot political issue. The book draws upon contemporary debates about the supposed presence of an emerging underclass, and in particular the 'criminalisation' and 'racialisation' of black communities with whom it has come to be particular associated in the public mind. The author then develops a framework of analysis which focuses upon the relationship of three key variables: the production of motivated offenders, the availability and suitability of victims, and a study of the limits inherent in current control strategies. Finally, the book concludes that a successful prevention strategy requires an agenda for revitalising the public sphere in inner city areas --rather than reliance policies of situational crime prevention, zero tolerance policing and increased punishment

Cullompton, UK: Willan, 2005. 202p.

By The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)

This report provides a technical review of the current body of knowledge regarding synthetic cannabinoids that are monitored by the EU Early Warning System. The aim of this report is to strengthen situational awareness of synthetic cannabinoids in Europe and to help stakeholders prepare for, and respond to, public health and social threats caused by such substances.

Lisbon: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), 2021. 70p.

By Claire Hamilton

This book considers the impact of post 9/11 counter-terrorism laws outside of the counter-terrorism context, a process described here as ‘contagion’. It does so via a detailed empirical examination of the impact of counter-terrorism measures on the criminal justice systems of three selected EU countries with varying histories and experience of terrorism, namely, the UK, France and Poland. In particular, the book explores the synergistic relationship between counter-terrorism measures and control measures aimed at ‘ordinary’ crimes and asks what the implications are for the direction of travel of the criminal law in general. It probes the hegemonic power of terrorism and the securitisation agenda more broadly and discusses the implications for criminology as a discipline – does it, for example, have a role in social contestation of contagion? This book will be suitable for academics and students interested in political violence, terrorism and counterterrorism as well as practitioners and experts working in the area.

Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK; New York:, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. 172p.

By The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Treatment and recovery of individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) can vary. These individuals may have co-occurring disorders, live in diverse parts of the country, and face a variety of socio-economic factors that help or hinder their treatment. All these factors bring complexities to evaluating the effectiveness of services, treatments, and supports. Despite variations, substantial evidence is available to understand the types of services, treatments, and supports that reduce substance use, lessen mental health symptoms, and improve individuals’ quality of life. Communities are eager to take advantage of what has been learned to help individuals in need. The Evidence-Based Resource Guide Series is a comprehensive and modular set of resources intended to support health care providers, health care system administrators, and community members to meet the needs of individuals at risk for, experiencing, or recovering from substance use and mental health disorders.

Rockville, MD: National Mental Health and Substance Use Policy Laboratory. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2019. 76p.

By Topher L. McDougal

Illicit economies are notoriously difficult to detect and quantify for the simple reason that participants have incentives to keep their activities clandestine. This paper outlines and implements a method for estimating the markets for illicit small arms, sex, and drugs as constituent components of the total cash economy for the San Diego metropolitan area. The method has two parts: first it derives the total cash economy of San Diego; second it fits a model predicting that amount for each available year as a function of index variables for three distinct illicit markets (small arms, sex, and drugs) and the licit cash economy. It estimates that the market for cash-based purchases of small arms in San Diego in 2013 was $920 million – slightly larger than the illicit sex industry, and much smaller than both the market for illicit drugs and the licit cash economy. Limitations of the method are discussed, including the potential for better proxy variables to improve reliability.

San Diego: Small Arms Data Observatory, 2015. 13p.

By Peter Adamson, Giorgina Brown, John Micklewright, Sylke Schnepf and Anna Wright.

This report represents the first ever attempt to draw a comparative picture of the physical abuse of children in the 27 richest nations of the world. UNICEF research estimates that almost 3,500 children under the age of 15 die from physical abuse and neglect every year in the industrialized world. The greatest risk is among younger children. A small group of countries - Spain, Greece, Italy, Ireland and Norway - appear to have an exceptionally low incidence of child maltreatment deaths; Belgium, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, Hungary and France have levels that are four to six times higher. The United States, Mexico and Portugal have rates that are between 10 and 15 times higher than those at the top of the league table. The good news is that child deaths from maltreatment appear to be declining in the great majority of industrialized countries.

New York: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) (Italy), Innocenti Research Centre, 2003. 40p.

By Prachi Pundir,Ashrita Saran,Howard White,Ramya Subrahmanian andJill Adona

AbstractBackground:More than half of the children in the world experience some form of interpersonal violence every year. As compared with high‐income countries, policy responses in low‐and middle‐income countries (LMICs) are limited due to resource constraints and paucity of evidence for effective interventions to reduce violence against children in their own contexts, amongst other factors.Objectives:The aim of this evidence and gap map (EGM) is to provide an overview of the existing evidence available and to identify gaps in the evidence base on the effectiveness of interventions to reduce violence against children in LMICs. This report covers evidence published in English; a follow‐up study is under preparation focusing on evidence in five additional languages—Arabic, Chinese, French, Portu-guese and Spanish.Methods:The intervention‐outcome framework for this EGM is based on INSPIRE—Seven Strategies for Ending Violence against Children, published by WHO and other partners in 2016. The seven strategies include implementation and enforcement of laws; norms and values, safe environment; parent–child and caregiver support; in-come and economic strengthening; response and support services; education and life-skills. The search included both academic and grey literature available online. We included impact evaluations and systematic reviews that assessed the effectiveness of interventions to reduce interpersonal violence against children (0–18 years) inLMICs (World Bank, 2018b). Interventions targeting subpopulation of parents,teachers and caregivers of 0–18 years’age group were also included. A critical appraisal of all included studies was carried out using standardised tools.

Oslo, Norway: Campbell Collaborative, 2020. 37p.

By Mary Catherine Maternowska; Alina Potts and Deborah Fry

Vulnerability to violence evolves in complex socio-economic and cultural contexts. This locally driven research analyses how institutional, community, interpersonal and individual factors interact to affect violence in children’s lives. It also begins to identify pathways to better inform national prevention strategies. The study places age and gender at its center, focusing on girls and boys at different stages of the life course, from the very young to older adolescents. A cornerstone of the study is to link quality research, translating it into evidence, and turning evidence into effective and meaningful interventions. This snapshot provides insights to the complexities that surround violence. Understanding and responding to the political as well as community contexts in which violence occurs builds more meaningful responses. Country teams are now preparing to move to the field and test best approaches to violence prevention based on evidence and using data to drive change.

New York: UNICEF, United Nations Children's Fund, 2017. 10p.

By Jeannie Duckworth

Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist, with Fagin, Sykes, the Artful Dodger, and children trained as pickpockets and sent out as burglar’s accomplices, provides an unforgettable fictional image of the Victorian underworld. Fagin’s Children is an account of the reality of child crime in 19th century Britain and the reaction of the authorities to it. It reveals both the poverty and misery of many children’s lives in the growing industrial cities of Britain and of changing attitudes toward the problem.

London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2003. 276p.

By David A. Green

This title examines the role of political culture and penal populism in the response to the emotive subject of child-on-child homicide. Green explores the reasons underlying the vastly differing responses of the English and Norwegian criminal justice systems to the cases of James Bulger and Silje Redergard respectively. Whereas James Bulger's killers were subject to extreme press and public hostility, and held in secure detention for nine months before being tried in an adversarial court, and served eight years in custody, a Redergard's killers were shielded from public antagonism and carefully reintegrated into the local community. This book argues that English adversarial political culture creates far more incentives to politicize high-profile crimes than Norwegian consensus political culture. Drawing on a wealth of empirical research, Green suggests that the tendency for politicians to justify punitive responses to crime by invoking harsh political attitudes is based upon a flawed understanding of public opinion. In a compelling study, Green proposes a more deliberative response to crime is possible by making English culture less adversarial and by making informed public judgment more accessible.

Oxford University Press. Oxford. 2008. 353p.

By Murray A. Straus, Emily M. Douglas and Rose Anne Medeiros

Why do parents hit those they love? What effect does it have on children? What can be done to end this pattern? These are some of the questions explored in The Primordial Violence. Featuring longitudinal data from over 7,000 U.S. families as well as results from a 32 nation study, the book presents the latest research on the extent to which spanking is used in different cultures and the subsequent effects of its use on children and on society. Evidence that shows the relationship between spanking and the subsequent slowing of cognitive development and increase in antisocial and criminal behavior is shown. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies are explored in an accessible fashion. An abundance of high quality research has produced findings that are highly consistent from study to study which show that spanking is a risk factor for aggressive behavior and other social and psychological problems. Because of these findings, the authors argue for policy changes and recommend a drastic reduction in the use of spanking. Policy and practical implications are explored in most chapters.

Routledge, 2013. 432p.

By Katherine Covell and R. Brian Howe

This book examines the risk factors surrounding children at risk of experiencing and perpetrating violence, and looks at the positive role that children's rights can play in their protection.The authors propose that violence in childhood is not spontaneous: that children are raised to become violent in poorly functioning families and child-unfriendly environments. They may be exposed to toxic substances in utero, to maltreatment in infancy, to domestic violence or parental criminality as they grow up. Each of these risk factors is empirically linked with the development of antisocial and aggressive behaviour, and each reflects a violation of children's rights to protection from maltreatment. The authors show how respecting children's rights and safeguarding them from exposure to violence can shift the balance between risk and protective factors and, as a result, reduce the incidence and severity of childhood violence.

Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2008. 288p.

By The Gulkenkian Foundation

The UK branch of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation has taken the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ‘protecting the dignity, equality and human rights’ of children, as a broad framework within which to initiate and support specific projects of benefit to children and young people. Particular attention is given to strategic national and regional proposals which reflect the values contained in the Convention.

London: Gulbenkian Foundation,

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By Courtney R. Semisch, Kristen Sharp and Alyssa Purdy

This report provides information on offenders sentenced under the Armed Career Criminal Act (hereinafter “the Act” or “the ACCA”)1 using data collected by the United States Sentencing Commission (the “Commission”). This report provides an overview of the ACCA and its implementation in the federal sentencing guidelines. It also includes information on offender and offense characteristics, criminal histories, and recidivism of armed career criminals.

Washington, DC; United States Sentencing Commission, 2021. 88p.

By Frederick Howard Brown

Empirical studies have attempted to measure the relative deprivation - crime relationship with varying degrees of success. These have generally focused on examining ‘actual relative deprivation’ by employing quantitative methods to aggregated, area based data. Operationalising actual relative deprivation in terms of disparities in household income, these studies have attempted to show a relationship between income inequality and crime at the area level. From this they have assumed that those with the lowest incomes are most likely to perceive relative deprivation and are therefore more likely to engage in crime as a result. However, few studies have examined actual and perceived relative deprivation at the individual level. This thesis set out to explore at the individual level whether those experiencing actual relative deprivation are more likely than others to perceive relative deprivation and to determine whether actual or perceived relative deprivation (if either) is a good predictor of criminality.

London: London School of Economics and Political Science, 2001. 494p.

By Rick Cummings

Operation Burglary Countdown is an innovative community-based crime reduction program operating in two pilot areas, Bentley and Morley. A comprehensive and independent evaluation study has shown that the model of integrating central and local resources through coordinated police and community activities has been well implemented and generated considerable community support. During 12 months of operation, the program has demonstrated its effectiveness in targeted hotspots by reducing residential burglary in Bentley and the surrounding area by over 40%, saving the community an estimated $700,000. Its lack of significant impact in Morley indicates it is best introduced only in identified hotspots

Perth: Office of Crime Prevention, Government of Western Australia, 2005. 65p.

By Andrew D. Newton, Michelle Rogerson and Alex Hirschfield

This paper explores the relationship between the allocation of target hardening and burglary risk based on recent research in the City of Liverpool. Individual property‐level data from a range of sources was collated for each residential property in the city using a unique property reference number. This produced a rich data set enabling burglary and target hardening activity to be analysed through time at both the individual property‐level and across a variety of spatial units (e.g. super output areas, wards and regeneration areas). The results highlight an imperfect alignment between target hardening and burglary risk locations largely attributable to the influence of Liverpool’s area based regeneration initiatives. The paper makes the case for prioritising properties for target hardening based on a combination of the prior burglary history of individual properties, the burglary risk of an area, and existing levels of target hardening protection.

Huddersfield, UK: University of Huddersfield, 2008. 25p.

By Shannan Catalano

Presents findings from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) on the characteristics of burglary, with comparisons between households where members were present and not present. It also examines the extent to which individuals in the residence are violently victimized when at home during these encounters. The NCVS classifies victimization as personal, rather than property crime, when a household member is present and experiences violence during a household burglary. This report classifies these violent burglaries differently so that they may be compared to traditionally classified burglaries. It also discusses crime characteristics such as household structure, location and type of residence, method of entry, time of day, type of violence, weapon use, injury, and reporting to police. Data on nonfatal violent victimization (rape/sexual assault, robbery, aggravated and simple assault) are drawn from the NCVS. Data on homicides are drawn from the Supplementary Homicide Report of the FBIs Uniform Crime Reporting Program.

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2010. 13p.

By David W.M. Sorensen

During the 18-year period 1990 to 2007, the number of reported residential burglaries (indbrud i beboelse) was very stable. This changed in 2008 to 2010, when burglary increased by 30% (averaged over these three years) as compared to the previous 18-year average. Seen in its most extreme light, the number of reported burglaries in 2009 was 65.3% higher than in 2005. Little solid evidence exists as to why residential burglary increased so dramatically in 2008 and 2009. The current report examines this question using POLSAS data on 234,745 residential burglaries reported in Denmark during the six-year period 2005-2010, plus data on long term crime trends (1990-2010) and other social indicators. The report begins with a comparison of the rise in burglary to trends in overall Danish property crime. This reveals that the increase in burglary is far greater than that for any other major crime category. Burglary is therefore unique in this regard. Trends in Danish burglary are then compared to burglary trends in the EU and other Nordic countries to see if Denmark’s increase is part of a wider EU/Nordic phenomenon. The EU countries worst hit by the economic recession of 2008 experienced the sharpest increases in burglary. Denmark shares little in common with these countries, but shares much in common with Sweden, which also experienced a (far more modest) rise in burglary. In sum, domestic and international trend analyses reveal that the increase in Danish burglary probably has multiple causes emanating from both within and outside Denmark.

Copenhagen: Danish Crime Prevention Council, 2011. 64p.

By Amy Randall and Martin Gill

In a study commissioned by Churchill Home Insurance, Perpetuity Research interviewed 15 convicted burglars to help understand what factors motivate burglary. The report considers various aspects such as how targets are selected, the level of planning and the equipment used, the significance of security measures, and how stolen goods are sold on. It also covers how the interviewees perceived the legal change made in 2013 that clarified the rights of householders to use force to protect themselves or others in their homes. The report provides a fascinating insight in to the thought process of a small sample of those who have committed burglary

Tunbridge Wells, UK: Perpetuity Research and Consultancy International, 2014. 48p.