By Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary

Serious acquisitive crime (SAC) strikes at the heart of people’s feelings of safety in their homes and communities. It isn’t just a ‘volume crime’. It affects people on a daily basis. And failing to target it damages public confidence in policing. The response to SAC from policing isn’t consistently good enough. Too many offenders remain at liberty and most victims aren’t getting the justice they deserve. Forces are missing opportunities to identify and catch offenders, from the moment a member of the public reports the crime to the point where a case is finalised. Depending on where in England and Wales they live, some victims of SAC are more likely than others to get a thorough investigation from their force. This can’t be justified. This report brings together some of our findings from recent police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy (PEEL) and thematic inspections in England and Wales. It shows where forces need to make improvements in the way they tackle SAC, and it reports on the good practice we identified. The onus is on forces to learn from each other. They should consider whether they can apply the positive examples in this report to their own force.  

Birmingham, UK: HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, 2022. 40p.

By Justin T. Pickett. Amanda Graham and Francis T. Cullen 

The mission of policing is “to protect and serve,” but recent events suggest that many Americans, and especially Black Americans, do not feel protected from the police. Understanding police-related fear is important because it may impact civilians’ health, daily lives, and policy attitudes. To examine the prevalence, sources, and consequences of both personal and altruistic fear of the police, we surveyed a nationwide sample (N = 1,150), which included comparable numbers of Black (N = 517) and White (N = 492) respondents. Most White respondents felt safe, but most Black respondents lived in fear of the police killing them and hurting their family members. Approximately half of Black respondents preferred to be robbed or burglarized than to have unprovoked contact with officers. The racial divide in fear was mediated by past experiences with police mistreatment. In turn, fear mediated the effects of race and past mistreatment on support for defunding the police and intentions to have “the talk” with family youths about the need to distrust and avoid officers. The deep American racial divide in police-related fear represents a racially disparate health crisis and a primary obstacle to law enforcement’s capacity to serve all communities equitably.  

Criminology, 60 (2): 291-320, 2022.    

By The Independent Office for Police Conduct

The circumstances in which police officers use Taser is an area of significant public interest. Tasers provide the police and the community with valuable protection in dangerous situations. The police are able to use Tasers as an option to resolve situations, including the threat of serious violence, when they consider the use of the Taser is reasonable and proportionate to the threat they face. Tasers are now available to more police officers than ever before with some police forces committing to providing them to all frontline officers who wish to carry one. Home Office data shows Taser was used in 17,000 incidents in 2017/18, nearly doubling to around 32,000 incidents in 2019/20. In the majority of cases Taser is not discharged – the threat alone can help to resolve an incident. However, some community groups and organisations have repeatedly expressed concerns about the risks associated with Taser use, particularly in the context of deaths and serious injuries, their use against children and vulnerable adults, and the significant racial disparities in Taser usage. As an independent body, our oversight helps to shine a light on issues we see in our investigations and through concerns being raised by community groups and organisations. This report was commissioned following a series of incidents involving Black men and people with mental health concerns in early 2020. We reviewed 101 cases involving Taser use that the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), or our predecessor organisation the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), investigated between 2015 and 2020. This report is not intended to present a fully representative picture of how Tasers are used across England and Wales, because we investigate only the most serious and sensitive cases. However, these cases often have the greatest impact on community confidence and provide invaluable opportunities for learning. It is right that Taser use is closely analysed to ensure the device is being used appropriately and not as a default when other options may be available. Police forces must be able to justify to the public the circumstances in which Taser is deployed, particularly when children and vulnerable people are involved. Forces must also respond to the disproportionate use of Tasers against Black people.  

London: The Independent Office on Police Conduct, 2021.128p.

By Beatriz Magaloni and Luis Rodriguez

How can societies restrain their coercive institutions and transition to a more humane criminal justice system? We argue that two main factors explain why torture can persist as a generalized practice even in democratic societies: weak procedural protections and the militarization of policing, which introduces strategies, equipment and mentality that treats criminal suspects as if they were enemies in wartime. Using a large survey of the Mexican prison population and leveraging the date and place of arrest, this paper provides causal evidence about how these two explanatory variables shape police brutality. Our paper offers a grim picture of the survival of authoritarian policing practices in democracies. It also provides novel evidence of the extent to which the abolition of inquisitorial criminal justice institutions – a remnant of colonial legacies and a common trend in the region – has worked to restrain police brutality.

Stanford, CA: Stanford University, Poverty, Violence and Governance Lab (PoVgov), 2020. 51p.

By Beatriz Magaloni, Vanessa Melo, Jailson de Souza Silva, Eliana Sousa Silva

The goal of this study is to explore themes related to public security using a large-scale, door-to-door survey of roughly 6,300 residents from Cidade de Deus, Providência, Rocinha, Batan, and Maré. Our aim is to generate a more informed debate about the security situation in Rio de Janeiro that gives voice to residents of the city’s favelas. In this survey, we explore favela residents’ patterns of interaction with the police and armed criminal groups, their experiences with victimization, their perceptions of changes in the security climate, as well as their evaluations of the police and the public security situation in their communities

Stanford, CA: Stanford University, Poverty, Violence and Governance Lab (PoVgov), 2017.  81p.

By Beatriz Magaloni, Vanessa Melo, and Gustavo Robles  

We present the first randomized experiment on police body-cameras in a high-violence setting: Brazil. Camera assignment -regardless of whether police turned it on -reduced stop-and-searches and other forms of potentially aggressive interactions with civilians. Cameras also produced a strong de-policing effect, where police wearing cameras were significantly less likely to engage in any form of activity, including responding to requests of help. These changes in police behavior took place even when most officers disobeyed the protocol that required them to turn their cameras on when interacting with civilians. To address this problem, we randomly assigned cameras to supervisors during part of the study. When officers’ supervisors wore a camera, policing activities and camera usage increased. Police surveys, interviews and focus groups strengthen the finding that technological advances can only have a limited impact in so far an organizational culture that perpetuates lack of compliance with internal protocols and violence persists.

Stanford, CA: Stanford University, Poverty, Violence and Governance Lab (PoVgov), Working Paper, 2020. 38p.

By United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Section 

  The COVID-19 pandemic has affected countries and people globally; it has also exacerbated existing disadvantages, poverty and vulnerabilities. The initial measures to contain the health crisis have not always considered those most vulnerable and affected by violence and exploitation. This report seeks to bring to the forefront the challenges for anti-trafficking during the pandemic and share promising practices and lessons learned in order to prepare for a more inclusive crisis-response in the future, leaving no one behind. In particular, the report explores the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on (1) the scale and characteristics of trafficking in persons; (2) victims of trafficking; and (3) frontline organizations (law enforcement, prosecution services, the judiciary and the protection and reintegration services provided by non-government organizations (NGOs)). The report also examines the different initiatives developed in response to the challenges created by COVID-19 and identifies promising practices.    

Vienna: UNODC, 2021. 90p.

By Shubhangi Agrawal, Tom Kirchmaier and Carmen Villa-Llera

   We analyse how crime trends evolved during the Covid-19 pandemic.  Police have recorded fewer crimes overall during the pandemic, but a larger share of these are serious offences (such as violence). Note: these records exclude cybercrime.  Violent crimes, which have been on the rise since 2014, remain at very high levels and did not decrease because of the pandemic.  Public order offences (incidents in which offenders cause public fear, alarm, or distress) were on the rise pre-pandemic, and the trend has accelerated since Covid began.  Except for online fraud, acquisitive offences - in which criminals obtain a material gain, such as burglary or theft - are now less common than pre-Covid. During national lockdowns, local acquisitive crimes decreased dramatically. Once lockdowns were lifted, the rate remained very low (especially for shoplifting and robbery). This trend is likely to remain, as more people work from home and shop online.  During months of national lockdowns, the number of anti-social behaviour and drug offences went up, but quickly returned to pre-pandemic levels once lockdowns ended.  The pandemic has not decreased crimes uniformly. Some areas (37 per cent) had more crimes in 2021 than during the same period in 2019. Unemployment and lower educational attainment appear to be key characteristics of areas that had higher crimes in 2021.  

London: London School of Economics, Centre for Economic Performance, 2022. 26p.

By The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

Restrictions on movement imposed by govern- ments across the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic have had an impact on the trafficking of substandard and falsified medical products. Interpol and the World Customs Organization (WCO) reported that seizures of substandard and falsified medical products, including person- al protective equipment (PPE), increased for the first time in March 2020. The emergence of trafficking in PPE signals a significant shift in organized criminal group behaviour that is directly attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought huge demand for medical products such as PPE over a relatively short period of time. It is foreseeable that, with the evolution of COVID-19 and developments in medicinal treatments and/or the repurposing of existing medicines, criminal behaviour will shift from trafficking in PPE to the development and delivery of a COVID-19 vaccine. Furthermore, cyberattacks on critical infrastructure involved in addressing the pandemic are likely to continue in the form of online scams aimed at health procurement authorities. Challenges in pandemic preparedness, ranging from weak regulatory and legal frameworks to the prevention of the manufacturing and trafficking of substandard and falsified products and cyber security shortcomings, were evident before COVID-19, but the pandemic has exacerbated them and it will be difficult to make significant improvements in the immediate short term. The report concludes that crime targeting COVID-19 medical products will become more focused with significantly greater risks to pub- lic health as the containment phase of the pan- demic passes to the treatment and prevention stages.  

Vienna: UNODC, 2020. 31p.

By The World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe

There are currently a variety of models of prison health accountability across the WHO European Region. The WHO Regional Office for Europe recommends that leadership should come from health ministries if health equity between prisons and the outside community is to be achieved. Most importantly, a whole of-government approach is required to improve the quality of health services in prisons. This policy brief describes the governance and organizational models for prison health adopted by three European countries– Finland, Portugal and England. Each of these has a different arrangement in place, either under the Ministry of Health or under the Ministry of Justice working in partnership with the Ministry of Health. Those that have undergone a change in governance model have done so at different moments and adopted a different approach to implementing the change. Each of the three countries is considered separately, then similarities and differences between them are highlighted. Finally, recommendations are given for countries considering making a transition in the governance model that will improve the health services provided and the health status of people in prison.

Copenhagen, Denmark: World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe, 2020. 44p.

By Rita Komalasaria, Sarah Wilson and Sally Haw

Opioid Agonist Treatment (OAT) programmes are regarded as a gold standard treatment for people living with Opioid Use Disorders (OUDs). However, OAT programmes are often unavailable or poorly implemented in prisons, in spite of the large numbers of people living with OUDs and the high risk of HIV transmission in prison settings. Unusually, this systematic review synthesizes qualitative evidence relating to barriers to, and facilitators of, the implementation of OAT programmes in prisons in high- and low/middle-income countries (LMICs) to provide more nuanced, contextualised understandings of how prison stakeholders perceive and/or experience OAT programmes within different prison settings.

International Journal of Drug Policy, January 2021. 

By Dix, M.O.; Mecray, M.; Man, J.; Vetter, E.; Tucker, M.; Parsons, N.; Craig, T. 

ABST Drones, or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), used to deliver contraband into correctional facilities pose three major threats to correctional facilities: 1) transporting/dropping contraband into correctional facilities; 2) creating a distraction to increase the chances of infiltration of contraband by other methods while security is distracted by the drone; and 3) the use of drones to monitor an area without detection to prepare for drops. Among the contraband smuggled into correctional facilities via drone use are cell phones, SIM cards, drugs, escape paraphernalia, and weapons. Successful strategies to reduce contraband entering correctional facilities combine technology-based solutions with associated policies and procedures. Technical complexities, legislative constraints, rules, and regulations limit correctional agencies’ options when planning regulations to counter the use of drones to facilitate providing contraband to inmates. Thus, most solutions must focus on technology-based detection to support improved facility contraband management. A variety of terms are associated with drones and are used interchangeably, but for the sake of consistency, this report poses a number of definitions.  This brief offers high-level insights on solutions to detect and react to drones and highlights some technologies and active strategies for detecting and countering or mitigating drone use to smuggle contraband into correctional facilities. When developing plans to manage drones, correctional agencies are strongly advised to review an interagency advisory published by the FAA, Federal Communications

Washington, DC: U.S. National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, 2022. 12p.

By Dennis C. Benamati, Phyllis A. Schultze, Adam C. Bouloukos, and Graeme R. Newman

From the Introduction: “… Informa­tion is now available from any location—home, office, or classroom—and at any time of day or night. Tradi­tionally, the researcher had to go to a library to access information.There, he or she could find a librarian to assist with locating information and formulating que­ries. Today, the researcher does not have to be in the same room or building to access Internet and online information sources. The librarian, who would have normally assisted with the research, is remote or may not be on duty. Thus, the concept of the library as a physical location has lost some of its meaning.

We have written Criminal Justice Information: How to Find It, How to Use It to accommodate these fundamental changes in the way that criminal justice information is accessed and disseminated. We hope that this new guide will provide the distant researcher with guidance in the use of resources—guidance that would have traditionally been provided by a reference librarian at a library….

Our publisher has suggested that we provide the re­searcher with a “roadmap” of how to use this book. It is a well-meant suggestion…[but]…a roadmap is an altogether inadequate analogy to demonstrate how we would like our readers to use this guide. Indeed, for several reasons we encourage our readers to shed the bias that research and information gathering are linear processes. This perception has been part and parcel of a culture that has taught and related information linearly for generations. The media in which our culture and knowledge are re­corded—primarily books but also audio and video recordings—are linear because they are bome of the limited technologies of the printing press…”

Phoenix, Arizona. The Oryx Press. 1998. 247p.

By Edward Lazarus

From the cover: “ "Lazarus has opened a window on matters that are usually kept secret.... [He] should be praised... for shedding light where it is needed."       —The Washington Post

Operating Within A Network Of Byzantine Secrecy. The United States Supreme Court is the most powerful judicial institution in the world. Nine unelected justices are charged with protecting our most cherished rights and shaping our fundamental laws.

In this eloquent, trailblazing account. Edward Lazarus, who served as a clerk to Justice Harry Blackmun, provides an insider’s guided torn- of a court at war with itself and often in neglect of its constitutional duties. Combining memoir, history, and legal analysis, Lazarus weaves together past and present to reveal how law, politics, and personality collide in the Courts inner sanctum. From conservative Chief Justice Rehnquist’s clandestine assault on Roe v. Wade to liberal champion Justice William Brennan's cam­paign to sabotage the death penalty, he shows us in astonishing detail not only the tragic failings of the modern Court but also what led to them and what it means for the country. The Supreme Court affects the life of every American every day.Closed Chambers will open the eyes of the nation to the realities of what takes place behind the closed doors of the institution that holds the power to resolve the most fiercely disputed issues of our time. Impeccably researched and impressively documented . . . will fascinate diehard court- watchers.”        —The Boston Globe

“The Court needs critics—and members—with Lazarus's intellectual clarity and deep attachment to its best traditions.”     —Los Angeles Times

By Graeme R. Newman, General Editor..

Fewer than 20 percent of countries have prohibited corporal punishment, while 35 percent retain the death penalty. Prison is still a universal punishment, regardless of culture or legal system. But what are the best ways to deter crime, while still recognizing civil rights? What lessons are there in the ways in which justice is administered—or abused—around the world? This comprehensive, detailed account explores crime and punishment throughout the world through the eyes of leading experts, local authors and scholars, and government officials.

NOTE: Theses digital versions are pre-publication proofs and may contain occasional typographical errors. and annotations.

Volume 1. Africa and Middle East. Edited by Mahesh K. Nalla

Volume 2. The Americas. Edited by Janet P. Stamatel And Hung-En Sung,

Volume 3. Asia and Pacific. Edited by Doris C. Chu.

Volume 4. Europe. Edited By Marcelo F. Aebi And Véronique Jaquier.

By David Arnold, Will Dobbie, and Peter Hull

 We develop new quasi-experimental tools to measure racial discrimination, due to either racial bias or statistical discrimination, in the context of bail decisions. We show that the omitted variables bias in observational release rate comparisons can be purged by using the quasi-random assignment of judges to estimate average race-specific misconduct risk. We find that approximately two-thirds of the average release rate disparity between white and Black defendants in New York City is due to racial discrimination. We then develop a hierarchical marginal treatment effects model to study the drivers of discrimination, finding evidence of both racial bias and statistical discrimination. Outcome-based tests of racial bias therefore omit an important source of racial discrimination in bail decisions, and cannot be used to rule out all possible violations of U.S. anti-discrimination law.   

Chicago: University of Chicago, Becker Friedman Institute for Economics, Working Paper, 2020. 83p.

By Andrew Jordan, Ezra Karger and Derek Neal

We examined 70,581 felony court cases filed in Chicago, IL, during the period 1990–2007. We exploit case randomization to assess the impact of judge assignment and sentencing decisions on the arrival of new charges. Our estimates of the impact of incarceration on recidivism show that, in marginal cases, incarceration creates large and lasting reductions in recidivism among first offenders. Yet, among repeat offenders who are marginal candidates for prison, incarceration sentences create only short-run incapacitation effects and no lasting reductions in the incidence of new felony charges. These treatment-impact differences inform on-going legal debates concerning the merits of sentencing rules that offer leniency for first offenders but encourage or mandate incarceration sentences for many repeat offenders.

Chicago: University of Chicago, Becker Friedman Institute for Economics, Working Paper, 2022. 66p.

By Catherine Heard and Helen Fair

This report presents our research on the use of pre-trial imprisonment in ten contrasting jurisdictions: Kenya, South Africa, Brazil, the United States of America, India, Thailand, England & Wales, Hungary, the Netherlands and Australia. A key objective of the research is to learn from disparities in the use of pre-trial imprisonment across the ten countries and to identify transferable lessons about how to prevent its misuse.  

London: Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research, 2019. 52p.

By Catherine Heard and Jessica Jacobson

In all countries across the globe, the prison sentence is a primary means by which the state censures and seeks to contain behaviours deemed illegal. States vary widely in terms of which types of illegal conduct are deemed to merit custody rather than non-custodial sanctions, and the lengths of prison terms imposed for conduct that does cross the custody threshold. Accordingly, people who are convicted in relation to similar conduct may receive widely differing penalties, depending on the country in which they are convicted and sentenced. This report examines the extent and nature of international disparities in custodial sentencing. It is the fourth in a series of research reports produced under the banner of ICPR’s international, comparative project, ‘Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in ten countries’, launched in 2017. The ten jurisdictions which are the focus of this research span all five continents: Kenya, South Africa, Brazil, the USA (and more specifically, New York State), India, Thailand, England and Wales, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Australia (more specifically, New South Wales). On the basis of legal and policy analysis and interviews with 70 legal practitioners across the ten jurisdictions, the report outlines the sentencing frameworks and probable sentencing outcomes for three hypothetical offences: a domestic burglary by a man with previous convictions for similar offences; drug importation (400 grams of heroin or cocaine) by a woman from a less developed country; and the intentional homicide, involving a knife, of one young man by another.

• More.....

  Each offence presents distinct policy challenges for sentencing law and practice, and each offers lessons for reform aimed at curbing the relentless rise in prisoner numbers seen in much of the world in recent decades. The emerging lessons for sentencing reform, and a series of high-level policy recommendations, are presented with reference to the broad themes of: • The role of previous convictions in sentencing – rationales and repercussions • The vexed and persistent problem of short prison sentences • Drugs policies and the scope for alternatives to harsh sentencing of drug offences • The meaning and implications of life sentences • Approaches to the sentencing of murder.  

London: Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research, 2021. 26p.

By Gina Jurva

In 2020, the United States judicial system faced unprecedented challenges as it was required to quickly adapt to an ever-evolving virus, new health mandates, and court closures, all while ensuring that litigants had access to the court system. People are entitled to their day in court, as they say, and this has been no easy feat. Where there is a challenge, however, there is also opportunity. Judges, court staff, and attorneys have risen to the occasion, finding new and innovative ways to keep the daily operations of civil and criminal court moving. In this “new normal”, courts used short- and long-term solutions to ensure that the public has continuous access to the U.S. justice system, while also reducing the danger to public health and maintaining safety. However, these solutions still didn’t meet all the needs to ensure access to justice and elimination of backlogs. As a result, we saw an increased reliance on technology in almost all aspects of court proceedings, from virtual or remote pre-trial hearings to remote jury selection and even digital evidence sharing. Many judges found this to be challenging, but many also embraced the opportunity to act as a salve against further case backlogs. While many courts relied on social distancing and were involved in some aspect of remote hearings, they now plan to continue to do so in hybrid-fashion into the future, whether by using social media and remote meeting tools like Zoom, YouTube, Microsoft TEAMS and even Facebook Live.  

Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 2021. 12p.