By Jake Phillips, Kate Whitfield, Paula Hamilton, Fiona de Hoog and Charlotte Coleman

‘Knife crime’, which here we use as shorthand for children and young people using and carrying bladed weapons in public places, has been increasing in recent years. Current evidence suggests that knife crime is driven by a combination of poverty, marginalisation, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), trauma, fear and victimisation, including exploitation. Youth offending teams (YOTs), amongst their other duties, are responsible for working with children (aged 10-17 years) who are at risk of involvement with knife crime, or who have been found guilty of a knife crime. YOTs are interdisciplinary teams which provide multi-agency input based on local need. They provide supervision and intervention programmes which focus on desistance from crime, and support children to avoid offending and reoffending, and to live a healthy and positive life. Although YOTs are increasingly sharing or co-commissioning services across local government boundaries, greater understanding of effective YOT activity is needed to allow for improved practice sharing, and potentially to deliver financial savings.

Manchester, UK: Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation, 2022. 49p.

By Aase Villadsen and Emla Fitzsimons

At age 17, 6.4% of young people self-reported carrying or using a weapon in the past year. For males the figure was 8.8% and for females 3.9%. • Carrying or using a weapon at age 17 intersected with other types of offences at the same age. Of those who had carried or used a weapon in the past year, 66% reported assault, 32% had shoplifted, 20% committed neighbourhood crime, 50% were involved in criminal damage, 30% reported cybercrime, and 5.3% had participated in online bullying. A high proportion (26%) of those who had carried or used a weapon were currently or 4 previously members of a gang. • Weapon carrying or use at age 17 was associated with a wide range of prior factors, when examined bivariately with no other variables controlled for. Factors related to a higher prevalence of carrying or using a weapon included individual characteristics, socioeconomic background, family environment, school factors, child and adolescent mental health, leisure activities, peer factors, substance use, and previous involvement in offending behaviours. • In multivariate examinations of weapon carrying or use at age 17, controlling for other variables, many bivariate associations dissipated. Significant associations remained for being male, use of substances at age 14, spending a lot of time on computer/electronic gaming at age 14, being excluded from school between age 11 and 14, and having peers who use multiple substances at age 14. Furthermore, these age 14 experiences and behaviours appeared to be mediators between childhood experiences (low household income, domestic abuse between parents, externalising problems, and self-harm in adolescence) and carrying or using a weapon at age 17. Finally, cohort members carrying or use of a weapon previously at age 14 was highly predictive of continuity at age 17. There were no differences between males and females in terms of variables associated with this age 17 outcome.

London: UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies, 2021, 117p.

By Mallory O’Brien and Michael F. Totoraitis

In 2005, the Mayor of Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Police Department’s Chief of Police, and the Milwaukee County District Attorney formed the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission (MHRC) to address lethal violence in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Modeled after other review processes such as child death or crime incident reviews, homicide reviews were rare and information about them was scarce. Since then, the MHRC has been a central component of the City of Milwaukee’s violence prevention efforts. The MHRC strives to reduce homicides and nonfatal shootings through a multilevel, multidisciplinary, and multi-agency homicide review process. The commission was designed to achieve the following goals: 1 . Gain a better understanding of homicide through strategic problem analysis. 2 . Develop innovative and effective responses and prevention strategies. 3 . Help focus available prevention and intervention resources. Guiding the creation of MHRC were four tenets that would inform the entire initiative and affect its governance, leadership, and staffing structure; partnership development; collection and use of real-time data; and preference for multilevel and multi-agency decision-making. These four tenets were 1 . Homicide is preventable; 2 . Only a collaborative and well-coordinated effort of community, nonprofit, business, government, academic, legal, and medical partnerships will lead to lasting change; 3 . Data-driven strategies are essential; 4 . Multi-level responses help ensure meaningful, robust, and sustainable results over the long term.

Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2021. 18p.

By Emily Tiry, Kelly Roberts Freeman and William Adams

States and localities maintain primary responsibility for addressing violent crime in their communities, but the federal government also plays an important role in combating violence. One key part of that role is the enforcement of federal gun laws that regulate receipt and possession of firearms as well as their manufacture, importation, distribution, and transfer. Federal law also penalizes the criminal use of firearms. Most defendants in federal firearms cases are charged pursuant to the Gun Control Act of 1968, which regulates interstate and foreign firearms commerce and prohibits certain persons, such as those with felony convictions, from possessing a firearm (box 1). Federal prosecution is sometimes considered more advantageous than state prosecution because it carries more certain and punitive penalties. Moreover, targeted federal prosecutions through federal, state, and local task forces like Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) can be a key component of crime-reduction strategies.

Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 2021. 45p.

By Marissa Edmund

Gun violence is a major problem in the United States as well as the key driver of the rise in violent crime across the nation.1 Notably, gun violence has a disproportionate impact on racial and ethnic minorities and is highly concentrated in a relatively small number of neighborhoods that have historically been under-resourced and racially segregated. This is due to a combination of weak gun laws; systemic racial inequities, including unequal access to safe housing and adequate educational and employment opportunities; and a history of disinvestment in public infrastructure and services in the communities of color most affected by gun violence. To reduce gun violence in these communities, U.S. policymakers must complement common sense gun laws with investments in community-based violence intervention (CVI) initiatives and policies to address root causes of gun violence.

Washington, DC: Center for American Progress, 2022. 4p.

By Alexandra Kuimova, Dr Andrea Edoardo Varisco and Pieter D. Wezeman

This SIPRI Policy Report synthesizes the data on small arms and light weapons (SALW) diversion from the United Nations Panel of Experts reports on the five UN arms embargoes in place in subSaharan Africa in 2022—on the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan (Darfur region). The report provides a typology on the sources of illicit SALW in the states and regions under embargo and discusses the challenges of enforcing arms embargoes and possible policy solutions to address the various sources of illicit SALW in order to inform and support efforts to combat the proliferation of illicit arms.

Stockholm: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 2022. 53p.

By Jessica Reichert, Jacquelyn Gilbreath; and Morgan McGuirk

Gun violence is a persistent and concerning issue across the country and the state of Illinois. In communities with high levels of gun violence, individuals may carry guns for protection. These individuals may never intend to, or actually, fire them; however, if arrested for possession, they may 2 face a felony conviction. We summarized literature on why individuals illegally carry guns, how they obtain them, and the criminal legal ramifications they may face. In addition, we examined Illinois gunrelated arrest data collected between 2012 and 2021. The findings revealed firearm possession arrests more than doubled during that period. In 2021, Black men in their 20s and arrested in Chicago with previous arrests on their records comprised the majority of the nearly 16,000 individuals arrested for a firearm-related offense. Community investment, diversionary criminal justice programming, and evidence-based, trauma-informed treatment may reduce crimes related to illegal gun carrying.

Chicago: Illinois Criminal Justice Authority, 2022. 19p

By Timothy Carey, Lisa Geller, Daniel Webster

Though Illinois has stronger gun violence prevention laws than much of the country, there are specific actions Illinois could take to further reduce rates of firearm death and injury in the state. This report offers several recommendations, backed by empirical research, that state actors should adopt to achieve this end. The recommendations are divided among four main issue areas and preceded by an overview of the current state law and relevant research supporting the recommendations that follow. As public health researchers and advocates, our recommendations are for Illinois to: Improve Firearm Restraining Order (FRO) Implementation a. Assign statewide FRO coordinators to serve as a liaison between petitioners and the court system b. Mandate clear and comprehensive reporting on FRO use c. Mandate FRO training for those involved in implementation d. Expand the list of eligible FRO petitioners to include licensed healthcare providers e. Provide FRO education to key partners and advocates in the violence prevention space f. Extend the sixmonth FRO to one year g. Utilize Byrne JAG funding for FRO implementation. Improve FOID Card Process a. Raise the age to 21 to buy firearms & obtain a FOID Card b. Require individuals applying for a FOID Card to apply for the license and to undergo fingerprinting in person at a state agency or state-certified vendor c. Convene experts and impacted groups in the mental health community to reevaluate potential stigmatization in the FOID denial and revocation criteria d. Submit Governor Pritzker’s recommendations to expand the use of Clear and Present Danger Reports to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules’ proposed rules process Ban the Sale, Transfer, Manufacture, and Possession of Large Capacity Magazines Counteract Gun Trafficking a. Establish an anti-gun trafficking unit within ISP b. Create accountability for firearm dealers in Illinois by codifying a public nuisance law for dangerous firearm distribution practices to fit within the PLCAA exception

Baltimore: Center for Gun Violence Solutions, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2022. 16p.

By Timothy W. Ryback.

From the cover: “Ryback’s account is gripping—and thoroughly chilling—as it provides a snapshot of a moment when the Nazis still required a veil of legality. . . . Diligently researched works such as this are as necessary now as they were decades ago, to keep both memory and vigilance alive." —The Telegraph (London). "Has all the makings of a legal thriller ” —The Boston Globe. "Valuable. . . . Turns the spotlight on the rapid erosion of state power in the early months of Nazi rule. . . . Ryback’s vivid narrative of an ordinary German lawyer's experience makes this feel much more immediate, bringing home the terrible realities of early Nazification.” —The Times Higher Education (London)

NY. Vintage Random House. 2014. 290p.

By Reynolds, John, active 1621-1650

The triumphs of Gods revenge against the crying and execrable sinne of (wilful and premeditated) murther : with his miraculous discoveries, and severe punishment thereof : in thirty several tragical histories, (digested into six books) committed in divers countreys beyond the seas : never published or imprinted in any other language.

London : Printed by A.M. for William Lee, and are to be sold by George Sawbridg, Francis Tyton, John Martin ... [and 9 others]. 1670. 508p.

Edited by Graeme R. Newman

“To celebrate our 200th year of crime, I have tried to bring together a number of papers which (1) trace some historical origins of crime and justice in America; (2) examine some cultural expressions of crime through fact, fiction, and policy; and (3) are themselves representative of the cultural context of crime. Some of the papers attempt to destroy myths; others to comprehend them. Still others try to break out of the visionary mold and plead for rationality. We have on our hands, Wilkins says, a “mad, bad, sick” confusion. The colossal complexity of the concept of crime cannot be doubted, and its role in the mythical foundations of national culture has yet to be apprehended. Perhaps if we can rid ourselves of this confusing moralism about crime, we will be able to go forward with clear heads and protect ourselves.”

Philadelphia. Tha Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences. 1976. 240p.

By Elizabeth McHenry

Elizabeth McHenry locates a hidden chapter in the history of Black literature at the turn of the twentieth century, revising concepts of Black authorship and offering a fresh account of the development of “Negro literature” focused on the never published, the barely read, and the unconventional.

Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2021. 313p.

By Jennifer Crane

This open access book explores how children, parents, and survivors reshaped the politics of child protection in late twentieth-century England. Activism by these groups, often manifested in small voluntary organisations, drew upon and constructed an expertise grounded in experience and emotion that supported, challenged, and subverted medical, social work, legal, and political authority. New forms of experiential and emotional expertise were manifested in politics – through consultation, voting, and lobbying – but also in the reshaping of everyday life, and in new partnerships formed between voluntary spokespeople and media. While becoming subjects of, and agents in, child protection politics over the late twentieth century, children, parents, and survivors also faced barriers to enacting change, and the book traces how long-standing structural hierarchies, particularly around gender and age, mediated and inhibited the realisation of experiential and emotional expertise.

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. 218p.

By Nicole Rafter

Cambodia. Rwanda. Armenia. Nazi Germany. History remembers these places as the sites of unspeakable crimes against humanity, and indisputably, of genocide. Yet, throughout the twentieth century, the world has seen many instances of violence committed by states against certain groups within their borders—from the colonial ethnic cleansing the Germans committed against the Herero tribe in Africa, to the Katyn Forest Massacre, in which the Soviets shot over 20,000 Poles, to anti-communist mass murders in 1960s Indonesia. Are mass crimes against humanity like these still genocide? And how can an understanding of crime and criminals shed new light on how genocide—the “crime of all crimes”—transpires? In The Crime of All Crimes, criminologist Nicole Rafter takes an innovative approach to the study of genocide by comparing eight diverse genocides--large-scale and small; well-known and obscure—through the lens of criminal behavior. Rafter explores different models of genocidal activity, reflecting on the popular use of the Holocaust as a model for genocide and ways in which other genocides conform to different patterns. For instance, Rafter questions the assumption that only ethnic groups are targeted for genocidal “cleansing," and she also urges that actions such as genocidal rape be considered alongside traditional instances of genocidal violence. Further, by examining the causes of genocide on different levels, Rafter is able to construct profiles of typical victims and perpetrators and discuss means of preventing genocide, in addition to delving into the social psychology of

• More.....

  genocidal behavior and the ways in which genocides are brought to an end. A sweeping and innovative investigation into the most tragic of events in the modern world, The Crime of All Crimes will fundamentally change how we think about genocide in the present day.

New York: New York University Press, 2016. 320p.

Edited by Mathieu Deflem

This volume contains contributions on the theme of popular culture, crime, and social control. The chapters in this volume tease out various criminologically relevant issues, pertaining to crime/deviance and/or the control thereof, on the basis of an analysis of various aspects and manifestations of popular culture, including music, movies, television, paintings, sculptures, photographs, cartoons, and the internet-based audio-visual materials that are presently available. Thematically diverse within the province of criminology, the chapters in this book are not restricted in terms of theoretical approach and methodological orientation. Using a variety of methodological and theoretical perspectives, the volume is diverse in addressing dimensions of popular culture in relation to important criminological questions.

Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing, 2010. 308p.

By Kenneth G. C. Newport

What were the beliefs of the Branch Davidians? This is the first full scholarly account of their history. Kenneth G. C. Newport argues that, far from being an act of unfathomable religious insanity, the calamitous fire at Waco in 1993 was the culmination of a long theological and historical tradition that goes back many decades. The Branch Davidians under David Koresh were an eschatologically confident community that had long expected that the American government, whom they identified as the Lamb-like Beast of the book of Revelation, would one day arrive to seek to destroy God's remnant people. The end result, the fire, must be seen in this context.

Oxford, UK; New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.

"The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics brings together data from more than 100 published and unpublished sources about many aspects of criminal justice in the United States. Since 1973, the project has been located at the University at Albany, School of Criminal Justice, and compiled and managed by staff at the Hindelang Criminal Justice Research Center in Albany, New York. Most of the 33 volumes of this renowned resource of crime and justice statistics are available here for download. In the near future we will have available the complete set.

GO TO THE COLLECTION

By Aidan Sammons and David Putwain

What does a criminological psychologist actually do? Most people picture a modern-day Sherlock Holmes, helping the police to solve crimes, but the reality is far more interesting and complex. Psychology and Crime offers a fascinating introduction to criminological psychology, providing the reader with a comprehensive grounding in everything from cognitive forensics to police interviewing. Concise, informative and accessible, the book explores a range of theories to understand criminal behaviour, from the physiological to the social. It covers a range of contexts within the criminal justice system where psychology offers unique insights, including police investigation, the perspective of witnesses and victims, and courtroom proceedings. Thoroughly updated throughout to reflect developments in the field, and featuring new chapters covering cybercrime, terrorism and insights from neuroscience, this edition also includes a student-friendly ‘Apply your learning’ feature and case studies to bring the research to life. Accessibly written for all levels and with concise coverage of both classic and contemporary psychological theory, this is the ideal book for anyone studying criminal or forensic psychology.

Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge, 2019. 226p.

By Clive R. Hollin

Psychological theory and method have played a major part in shaping our understanding and interpretation of crime. Psychology and Crime supplies a timely and much-needed general text covering the range of contributions psychology has made both to understanding crime and responding to it. The book provides an accessible overview of theory and research from criminology, sociology, and psychology, focusing on three distinct themes. First, psychological theories about the offender are discussed, including the way in which mental disorder is defined. Second, the author analyses society's response to crime - the role of police and the courts. Finally, the book looks at crime prevention - both the rehabilitation of offenders and situational strategies for preventing crime.

London; New York: Routledge, 1989. 438p.

By Stephen P. Frank

This book is the first to explore the largely unknown world of rural crime and justice in post-emancipation Imperial Russia. Drawing upon previously untapped provincial archives and a wealth of other neglected primary material, Stephen P. Frank offers a major reassessment of the interactions between peasantry and the state in the decades leading up to World War I. Viewing crime and punishment as contested metaphors about social order, his revisionist study documents the varied understandings of criminality and justice that underlay deep conflicts in Russian society, and it contrasts official and elite representations of rural criminality—and of peasants—with the realities of everyday crime at the village level.

Berkeley, CA: London: University of California Press, 1999.