Using evidence in criminal justice

Abstract

Criminal justice covers a range of policy and practice areas. Agencies in this field are typically responsible for enforcing the law (including the prevention, disruption and detection of crime), prosecuting offenders (which requires appropriate prosecution and defence authorities and court services), dealing with convicted offenders (which involves prisons, probation services and staff who might deal with a wide range of alternative disposals) and supporting the victims of crime (which involves developing victim support groups and treatment services). The configuration of these arrangements in individual countries varies. This chapter primarily describes the use of research evidence in criminal justice as it pertains to the UK (and mainly England and Wales, but with some reference to Scotland). Here there are a mix of national and local agencies, including a National Crime Agency and national prison and prosecution services, local police forces in England and Wales (but now a national force in Scotland) and a myriad of local public, private and voluntary organisations working with offenders and victims. Policy development is divided between a group of agencies, including (in England and Wales) the Ministry of Justice, the Home Office, the National Fraud Office and the Crown Prosecution Service. These policies inform the work of practitioners, who might be police officers, those working in courts services, the National Offender Management Service (which includes prison and probation officers), aftercare staff and a plethora of medical or social service staff who are to varying extents involved in the treatment and care of offenders and victims. In the original What Works book (Davies et al, 2000), the criminal justice chapter focused on interventions with convicted offenders, particularly the services provided by the probation service and its What Works Project (Nutley and Davies, 2000).