About
The Centre for Criminal Justice Policy and Research was launched in spring 2003 with the objective of further developing the existing strength in the teaching and researching of criminal justice at Birmingham City University.
The Centre is located within the Faculty of Education, Law and Social Sciences. It brings together staff with a wide experience of teaching and research in criminal justice, as well as those with a practical and operational background in senior positions within the Criminal Justice System (CJS).
In addition to their commitment to teaching, staff at the Centre are actively involved in research and consultancy. Research interests include community safety, the police, prisons, penal reform, prisoner education, the experience of Muslims working within and encountering the CJS, private security companies and vigilantism. Conferences have been organised on important areas of debate within criminal justice, including prisoner education and drugs in prison, and staff contribute to conferences at national and international level. Partnerships have also been established with a number of organisations including the Prisoners Education Trust, the Children's Society and Aquarius.
the Centre is a valuable resource to practitioners and policy makers
Using this rich and diverse background in scholarship, research and consultancy, the Centre is in a unique position to provide a bridge between theoretical debate, policy formulation and the practical application of policy in the agencies of the CJS in England and Wales. As such the Centre is a valuable resource to practitioners and policy makers and also to the wider public at a time of great debate and concern about crime and punishment.
The Centre has recently had some notable research successes reporting findings on schemes to reduce alcohol related offences and on the experience of young black men in custody. Further information of these and other research projects can be found on our research pages.
The Centre is committed to research, consultancy and scholarship which aims to inform the criminal justice policy debate and promote a better understanding of problems associated with crime, law and order, policing, community safety, imprisonment and its consequences. In this way it will discover, promote and disseminate best practice, engage with the criminal justice professionals and provide a consultancy and research service.
The Centre has a number of objectives which guide its work. These include:
- A commitment to undertake funded research programmes which will contribute to the Centre's desire to better inform criminal justice policy
- To provide a consultancy service for and meet the continuing professional development needs of organisations and practitioners working within the CJS
- To develop national and international links and to disseminate best practice in the operation of criminal justice services through conferences, occasional papers, books and refereed journal articles
The Centre therefore builds on the long history of Birmingham City University as a provider of innovative programmes in criminal justice, and the research, publications and operational backgrounds of its staff, so as to provide a service which will benefit not just policy makers but also other criminal justice stakeholders both in the West Midlands and further a field.
Professor David Wilson
Director of the Centre for Criminal Justice Policy and Research