criminology briefing paper

• EMU Library
• Research Guides

Selecting a Topic for a Policy Brief

Ace the assignment, what is a policy brief, think tanks for policy ideas, think tanks for criminology.

• Think tanks and advocacy organizations
• Reference and Information
• Locating Full Text
• Searching for News Articles
• Statistical Sources
• Legal Information
• Working with Sources
• Citing Sources

Success tip:  don’t just read the assignment, analyze it!

Professors expect students to follow directions carefully, but what do they actually mean by those directions? Figure out what an assignment is really asking, and you have the key to a successful paper.

• What Does the Professor Want? This free online book offers useful insights into university-level writing. more... less... Book Name: Writing in College Author: Amy Guptill Publisher: Open SUNY Textbooks Publication Date: 2016 Ebook ISBN: 978-1-942341-21-5
• Purdue OWL: Understanding Writing Assignments This online guide recommends starting on the right track by clarifying the purpose, audience and resources needed for your project.
• UNC Writing Center: Understanding Assignments This handout shows how to grab every nugget of insight from the assignment.
• Assignment Calculator Plan a schedule for completing a library research paper. Note: this is a general calculator, and the links to resources are not specific to EMU.
• Answering Assignment Questions This guide describes how to analyze the assignment in order to understand what the Professor expects.

Here are some examples and models of policy briefs.  Note: these examples might not follow the format expected by your professor or employer, so read your assignment carefully!

• International Centre for Policy Advocacy - Policy Brief resources
• Johns Hopkins Women and Children's Health Policy Center - Writing Policy Briefs module
• PolicyOptions.org - guide for an Issue Brief
• CIAO database search for Policy Briefs The CIAO database provides many types of articles, including nearly 7,000 policy briefs. Limit your search to policy briefs in the left-hand column of the main page.
• RAND corporation Provides a mixture of policy research, analysis and recommendations.

A Policy Brief should address a current social problem, or in Criminology, a problem related to crime or criminal justice. It is important to narrow down the problem to something that can be defined and measured.  Example: starting with the general problem of recidivism, after some exploring you might decide to focus on diversionary programs to reduce recidivism, but that is still too broad, so you might eventually develop a policy brief about a particular program: community reparations; and a particular population: juveniles. 

How to choose a topic:

• Consider the lectures and readings in your other courses.  Did something come up that you would like to know more about?
• Talk to experienced students about your interests and studies.
• Read newspapers and magazines such as:  New York Times (or the NYT Learning Network ), Wall Street Journal , New Yorker , Harpers , Atlantic , Popular Science , or similar.
• Explore the National Criminal Justice Reference Service ( NCJRS )
• Explore Political Science databases, especially CIAO
• Explore criminology databases and books such as the Springer Briefs series.
• Check the Encyclopedia of Social Work  

Try to find a topic that is not very common or very typical.  Usually the top topics in a database like CQ Researcher or Opposing Viewpoints are already over-worked.  Dig a little deeper to fnd something fresh.

Once you have some general ideas, it is time to focus .  In order to write a coherent brief, you must focus or sharpen your topic by exploring different aspects and problems, or by addressing a question. 

How to focus:

• Ask questions .  For example, if your topic is immigrants as crime victims, ask, what about it?  Ask yourself questions about definitions and characteristics, causes, and influences.
• Read to learn .  Later you will be reading for research, but start with reading to get an overview or outline of your topic.  Good places for this kind of reading might include the websites of advocacy organizations, articles or book chapters that give overviews of the topic, and for more advanced students, see the Annual Reviews series for your subject area, such as Sociology or Law & Social Science . Think Tanks and policy institutes are great resources to discover interesting social problems (see the Think Tanks section of this guide).

Even when you have focused your topic, you are still not quite done with this phase.  Now it's time to make sure you have something that is not too general and also not too narrow. 

How to check the focus :

• A policy brief is not an opinion paper. If you are simply arguing that something is good or bad, should or shouldn't be done or exist, you're not focused yet.
• A policy brief is not a report.  If you are only reporting or repeating information, then you do not have a good focus.
• If there is too much information, then limit to one particular part of the problem, a place, time or other aspect. For example, if bullying in schools has too much information, consider one time period, a particular kind of school, only indigenous people, or similar.
• Sometimes people get stuck with questions about which there is not enough information (such as "music therapy for nonviolent adolescent sexual offenders with autism") It is possible that research has not been done or data not collected, and you will find no information.  If this happens, then broaden to question to a wider area or more general problem.
• EMU guide to Michigan think tanks
• EMU guide to policy and advocacy groups
• MSU Library guide for Think Tanks
• Google: Think Tanks and Public Policy Groups This search engine searches Think Tanks and Public Policy websites.
• List from Wikipedia
• List from WSU
• List from Georgetown Univ
• << Previous: Welcome
• Next: Think tanks and advocacy organizations >>

Social Sciences Librarian

• Last Updated: Feb 9, 2024 2:15 PM
• URL: https://guides.emich.edu/crim200

• International Partners
• Knowledge Exchange
• Annual Reports
• Research Staff
• Postgraduates
• Publications
• Learning Resources for Schools
• A Life In Pieces
• Decolonising Criminology Resources
• Just Humans Podcast
• Work With Us
• Study With Us
• Become An Associate

We have produced a series of briefing papers and multimedia resources to help widen your understanding of criminology and engage critically with issues around justice.

The Learning Resources are a series of briefing papers that have been produced by our team to help guide students through their National 5/Highers in Modern Studies.

Secondary school teachers will also enjoy the fantastic coursework material produced by Modern Studies teachers and our colleague Dr Marguerite Schinkel. A Life in Pieces is based on a real person’s story of addiction, prison and survival as told by ‘Alison’. You can find PowerPoint presentations, audio, video and suggested activities for your class.

Our recorded seminars and workshops – ‘webinars’ – are available to watch along with our podcast series ‘Just Humans’.

Later this year we will be adding a series of Teaching Resources for lecturers in Criminology so stay tuned for that.

Learning Resources

4th October 2023

What is crime?

As well as providing a definition of crime, this briefing explores how it is decided which human behaviours should be considered a ‘crime’ and which should not.

Theories and causes of crime – Part 1

There is no one ‘cause’ of crime. In fact, crime is a highly complex phenomenon and criminologists, policy makers, law-makers and others are still trying to understand it. This briefing provides an overview of some of the key criminological theories which aim to explain the causes of crime. See Part 2 for more information.

Scottish criminal justice system

An overview of the main aspects of the criminal justice system in Scotland: the police service; crown office and procurator fiscal service; court system; prison system; and criminal justice social work services.

Victims of Crime

This briefing presents some key findings taken from the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) relating to the actual risk of victimisation and perceived risk of victimisation.

A Life in Pieces

A resource for Modern Studies Students studying crime and law and criminology. You can download PowerPoints and Teacher’s Notes for National 5 and Advanced Higher levels which take you through some suggested tasks. Feel free to adapt these to suit your own lessons.

12th November 2020

SCCJR Annual Lecture 2020 – Halfway Home: Race, Punishment and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration

Reuben's presentation examines the afterlife of mass incarceration, attending to how U.S. criminal justice policy has changed the social life of the city and altered the contours of American Democracy one (most often poor black American) family at a time. Drawing on ethnographic data collected across three iconic American cities—Chicago, Detroit and New York—he explores what it means to live in a supervised society and how we might find our way out.

30th October 2020

Zemiology at the border: addressing asylum harms in Northern Europe

In this seminar Dr Canning focuses on border harms as a way to disaggregate the two perspectives. Drawing on empirical research with women seeking asylum in Northern Europe, as well interviews with lawyers, barristers and psychologists, this paper outlines why harm matters as much as 'crime' in the context of bordering.

13th November 2020

Families, Imprisonment and Legitimacy: The Cost of Custodial Penalties

This study provides a compelling examination of what it means to be a family within the restrictive, disruptive and often distressing context of imprisonment.

4th December 2020

Counter-Colonial Criminology: The Decolonization of Neo-Colonial Reason

Revisiting the conclusion in Counter-Colonial Criminology, the papyrus suggests that since power is more of a cause of crime than poverty, activist intellectuals in Africa and worldwide should advance the struggles to deepen the decolonization of power relations in order to end the criminal abuse of power by the genocidal states imposed on Africa by European colonizers .

Privacy Overview

Conclusion: Understanding Victimisation and Effecting Social Change

• First Online: 02 July 2020

Cite this chapter

• Pamela Davies 3 &
• Jacki Tapley 4  

1662 Accesses

This concluding chapter reminds the reader that the central focus of this book has been to acknowledge and pay tribute to the role of activism in the development of victimology as an academic discipline. The chapter also reminds the reader of the key features of the book as a whole and that our aim has been to critically examine the range of complex and competing factors that have impacted upon and altered the criminal justice landscape in terms of how victims of crime are perceived. Furthermore, this concluding chapter identifies and summarises the key themes emerging from the volume. It synthesises the commonalities and reviews some of the key enduring features emerging from the chapters that precede it. As editors and authors, we then make some forward looking and informed yet speculative assessments, about victimology as a thriving academic discipline and activist movement. In our efforts to prioritise the safeguarding of victims and survivors and prevent further harm and victimisation, we set out what we see as some of the obvious and immediate areas that must be given precedence on an agenda for reform. The chapter thus concludes with our own past- and future-looking assessment of victimology as an academic discipline and an activist movement.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

• Available as PDF
• Read on any device
• Instant download
• Own it forever
• Available as EPUB and PDF
• Compact, lightweight edition
• Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
• Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Amir, M. (1968). Victim Precipitated Forcible Rape. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 58 (4), 493–502.

Google Scholar  

Bennett Moses, L., & Chan, J. (2018). Using Big Data and Data Analytics in Criminological Research. In P. Davies & P. Francis (Eds.), Doing Criminological Research (3rd ed., pp. 251–270). London: Sage.

Brennan, I., & Myhill, A. (2017). Domestic Abuse Matters 2.0: Evaluation of First Responder Training . College of Policing ( college.police.uk ).

Button, M., Tapley, J., & Lewis, C. (2013). The “Fraud Justice Network” and the Infra-structure of Support for Individual Fraud Victims in England and Wales. Criminology & Criminal Justice: An International Journal, 13 (1), 37–61.

Article   Google Scholar  

Button, M., Lewis, C., & Tapley, J. (2014). Not a Victimless Crime: The Impact of Fraud on Individual Victims and Their Families. The Security Journal, 27 (1), 36–54.

Cook, I. R., & Davies, P. (2017). Supporting Victims and Witnesses. In J. Harding, P. Davies, & G. Mair (Eds.), An Introduction to Criminal Justice (pp. 388–407). London: Sage.

Davies, P. (2018) Tackling domestic abuse locally: paradigms, ideologies and the political tensions of multi-agency working, Journal of Gender-Based Violence 2 (3), 429-446.

Douglas, H. (2017). Legal Systems Abuse and Coercive Control. Criminology & Criminal Justice, 18 (1), 84–99.

Duggan, M., & Heap, V. (2014) Administrating Victimisation: The Politics of Anti-Social Behaviour and Hate Crime Policy . Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Dutton, M. A., & Greene, R. (2010). Resilience and Crime Victimization. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 23 (2), 215–222.

Fleming, J., & Rhodes, R. A. W. (2018). Can Experience Be Evidence? Craft Knowledge and Evidence-Based Policing. Policy & Politics: An International Journal of Research & Policy, 46 (1), 3–26.

Goodey, J. (2005). Victims and Victimology: Research, Policy and Practice . Harlow: Pearson.

Green, S. (2007). Crime, Victimisation and Vulnerability. In S. Walklate (Ed.), Handbook of Victims and Victimology . Cullompton: Willan.

Greer, C. (2017). News Media, Victims and Crime. In P. Davies, P. Francis, & C. Greer (Eds.), Victims, Crime and Society: An Introduction (2nd ed.). Sage: London.

Hester, M., & Lilley, S.-J. (2017). Rape Investigation and Attrition in Acquaintance, Domestic Violence and Historical Rape Cases. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 14 (2), 175–188.

HMIC. (2015). Increasingly Everyone’s Business . London: HMIC.

Johnston, L., & Shearing, C. (2003). Governing Security: Explorations in Policing and Justice . Abingdon: Routledge.

Karagiannopoulos, V. (2018). Living with Hacktivism: From Conflict to Symbiosis . London: Palgrave.

Book   Google Scholar  

Lee, M. (2017). Fear, Vulnerability and Victimisation. In P. Davies, P. Francis, & C. Greer (Eds.), Victims, Crime and Society: An Introduction . London: Sage.

Long, J., Harper, K., & Harvey, H. (2017). The Femicide Census: 2017 Findings. The Annual Report on UK Femicides 2017. Retrieved from www.femicidecensus.org.uk .

Ministry of Justice. (2015). Code of Practcie for Victims of Crime . London: Ministry of Justice.

Mythen, G., & McGowan, W. (2018). Cultural Victimology Revisited: Synergies of Risk, Fear and Resilience. In S. Walklate (Ed.), Handbook of Victims and Victimology . Cullompton: Willan.

Robinson, A. (2015). Pie in the Sky? The Use of Criminal Justice Policies and Practices for Intimate Partner Violence. In H. Johnson, B. S. Fisher, & V. Jacquier (Eds.), Critical Issues on Violence Against Women . London: Routledge.

Robinson, A. L., Myhill, A., & Wire, J. (2017). Practitioner (mis)undertandings of Coercive Control in England and Wales. Criminology & Criminal Justice, 18 (1), 29–49.

Roebuck, B. (2018). Resilience and Victims of Violence. Plenary Address Presented at the 16th International Symposium of the World Society of Victimology, Hong Kong.

Rowe, M., Davies, P., Biddle, P. and Brown, D-M. (2018). Innovation in Policing Domestic Abuse: Understanding Success to Build Capacity . N8 Policing Research Partnership.

Savage, S., Grieve, J., & Poyser, S. (2007). Putting Wrongs to Rights – Campaigns Against Miscarriages of Justice. Criminology & Criminal Justice: An International Journal, 7 (1), 83–105.

Spalek, B. (2017). Crime Victims: Theory, Policy and Practice . London: Palgrave.

Tapley, J. (2003). From ‘Good Citizen’ to ‘Deserving Client’: The Relationship Between Victims of Violent Crime and the State Using Citizenship as the Conceptualising Tool . Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Southampton.

Walby, S., & Towers, J. (2018). Untangling the Concepts of Coercive Control: Theorizing Domestic Violent Crime. Criminology & Criminal Justice, 18 (1), 7–28.

Walby, S., et al. (2015). Stopping Rape: Toward a Comprehensive Policy . Bristol: Policy Press.

Walklate, S. (2011). Reframing Criminal Victimization: Finding a Place for Vulnerability and Resilience. Theoretical Criminology, 15 (2), 179–194.

Walklate, S., Fitz-Gibbon, K., & McCulloch, J. (2017). Is More Law the Answer? Seeking Justice for Victims of Intimate Partner Violence Through the Reform of Legal Categories. Criminology and Criminal Justice , 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895817728561 .

Wedlock, E., & Tapley, J. (2016). What Works in Supporting Victims of Crime: A Rapid Evidence Assessment . London: Victims’ Commissioner. Ministry of Justice.

Woodlock, D., McKenzie, M., Western, D., & Harris, B. (2019). Technology as a Weapon in Domestic Violence: Responding to Digital Coercive Control. Australian Social Work . https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2019.1607510 .

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Department of Social Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Pamela Davies

Institute of Criminal Justice Studies, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK

Jacki Tapley

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pamela Davies .

Editor information

Editors and affiliations.

University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Davies, P., Tapley, J. (2020). Conclusion: Understanding Victimisation and Effecting Social Change. In: Tapley, J., Davies, P. (eds) Victimology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42288-2_15

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42288-2_15

Published : 02 July 2020

Publisher Name : Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

Print ISBN : 978-3-030-42287-5

Online ISBN : 978-3-030-42288-2

eBook Packages : Law and Criminology Law and Criminology (R0)

Share this chapter

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

The browser you are using is no longer supported and for that reason you will not get the best experience when using our website.

You currently have JavaScript disabled in your web browser, please enable JavaScript to view our website as intended.

• School of Criminology
• Aims and objectives
• Publications
• Mapping the interventions
• Webinars and conference
• Evaluation tools and useful research
• VRIN Newsletter

Publications and briefing papers

The Violence Reduction Information Network researchers and members are involved in a number of studies relating to public space violence. Our work so far includes:

Evaluation Framework for Leicestershire and Rutland Violence Reduction Network (VRN)

This study was conducted for Leicestershire and Rutland Violence Reduction network in early 2020. The main aims were to develop a framework for the evaluation of their interventions through identifying methods for the evaluation of interventions and what input, output and outcome data were required for the evaluation.

Check out the Evaluation Framework for Leicestershire and Rutland Violence Reduction Network (VRN) Report (PDF, 2.2MB) .

Violence Reduction Information Network (VRIN): Discussion Paper 2

Reducing public place violence across the east midlands: the development of strategies, interventions and preparation for the serious violence duty.

The purpose of this discussion paper is to further our understanding of the response to public place violence across the East Midlands region. 

Check out the Violence Reduction Information Network: Discussion Paper 2 (PDF, 249kb).

The motivations of offenders who carry and use acid and other corrosives in criminal acts

VRIN Director, Dr Matt Hopkins , was part of the team that conducted this Home Office funded study. Based upon analysis of 1,000 police files on corrosive substance crime and interviews with 25 offenders in prison settings who had been convicted for offences where a corrosive had been thrown.  The study identifies substances most commonly used, characteristics of survivors and suspects, reasons for the use of corrosives in crime and preventatives strategies:

Check out the Motivations of offenders who carry and use acid and other corrosives in criminal acts (PDF, 1.13MB) . More can also be found on the UK Government website .

• Boston University Libraries
• Criminology & Criminal Justice
• White Papers & Policy Briefs
• Background Sources
• Find Journal Articles & More
• Find Films, Radio, & Podcasts
• Primary Sources
• Selected Data, Statistical Sources, Mapping & Public Opinion
• Evidence-Based Resources

What are White Papers and Policy Briefs?

How to write white papers & policy briefs, finding white papers & policy briefs: databases, find white papers & policy briefs: policy centers, nonprofit organizations & government agencies.

• Social Science / Criminal Justice Research Methods
• Writing Op-Eds & Letters to the Editor
• Writing Literature Reviews & Annotated Bibliographies
• Oral Presentation Resources and Tips
• Criminal Justice @ BU
• Citing Your Sources

White Papers

Originally, the term "White Paper" designated an official British document printed on white paper; specifically, "a parliamentary consultation or Command Paper outlining proposals for future policy or legislation on a particular subject" (OED). "White Paper" was shorthand for a government report, authoritative and informative in nature. 

The definition has broadened and today it include documents issued by companies and organizations, as well as government agencies.

According to  Purdue OWL, "A white paper is a concise report that often informs readers about an issue or an authoritative report that talks about a specific proposal. A white paper usually contains proposals for a specific policy or talks about an issue in detail. This document can be used in various industries—ranging from business to politics to science."

Policy Briefs

According to the FAO ,  "A policy brief is a concise summary of a particular issue, the policy options to deal with it, and some recommendations on the best options. It is aimed at government policymakers and others who are interested in formulating or influencing policy."

• White Paper: Organization and Other Tips (Purdue OWL)
• White Papers: An Introduction to the Genre Video (Purdue OWL)
• The White Paper FAQ (thatwhitepaperguy)

Policy Centers & Nonprofit Organizations

Government Agencies

• << Previous: Evidence-Based Resources
• Next: Social Science / Criminal Justice Research Methods >>
• Last Updated: Aug 28, 2023 4:21 PM
• URL: https://library.bu.edu/criminology-criminaljustice

Data • Administrative data •

Briefing Paper: Understanding the current system of victim data collection

 |  6th July 2023

Justice Lab (a part of The Legal Education Foundation) commissioned the Centre for Justice Innovation (in partnership with Russell Webster) to produce a briefing paper exploring the current systems for recording victim data within the criminal justice system and analysing the impact of poor data practices on victims. The paper focuses on groups who are disproportionately affected by ‘crime harms’. 

As the Victims’ Commissioner notes, “victims should not come away from the justice process having been made to feel worse”. And yet, in 2023, it is hard to conclude that we are delivering even that humble goal. In the first quarter of this year more than one quarter (29%) of police investigations were closed because the victim did not support further police action and nearly one in six (16%) prosecutions were halted because a victim did not provide evidence or withdrew.  This briefing paper explores current systems for recording victims’ data within the criminal justice system, in order to highlight their shortcomings and raise awareness of the negative impact on victims. 

Key findings include: 

• Despite the Victims’ Code and detailed policy aspirations to put the victim at the heart of the justice system, the system  continues to fail victims 
• In many parts of the justice system, victims’ data is simply not recorded (or at least not in any accessible format). Where it is recorded, the information is incomplete and lacks the sort of detailed information (particularly protected characteristics) which would help policymakers improve the victim experience 
• Where data is collected, it is not shared effectively, leading to victims falling through the gaps and losing trust in the system
• Recently designed systems (such as Common Platform) have not sought to address widely acknowledged failings 
• Poor data practices have an impact on the integrity of the criminal  justice system itself, with high numbers of victims (particularly of the most serious crimes) withdrawing from the criminal justice process to protect themselves from repeat victimisation

The briefing is based on a rapid review of the literature and interviews with key stakeholders in the victims’ sector, including representatives from the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) Project; the Domestic Abuse Commissioner; His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service; His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services; His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation; the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime; the Parole Board; the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, and the Victims’ Commissioner.

Privacy Overview

AQMeN Research Centre

ESRC-funded research from The Applied Quantitative Methods Network 2013-2017

Crime and Victimisation publications and outputs

Here you will find a list of journal articles, briefing papers, working papers, blog posts and other outputs from the Crime and Victimisation research programme by year of publication.

Journal article: Increasing Inequality in Experience of Victimization During the Crime Drop: Analysing Patterns of Victimization in Scotland from 1993 to 2014–15

Authors: Susan McVie, Paul Norris, Rebecca Pillinger Journal: The British Journal of Criminology Date: 17th May 2019

Journal article: Hatescape? A relational geography of disability hate crime, exclusion and belonging in the city 

Authors: Edward Hall and Ellie Bates Journal: Geoforum Date: May 2019

AQMeN Briefing paper 13 : Reduction in homicide and violence in Scotland is largely explained by fewer gangs and less knife crime

Authors: Dr Sara Skott and Professor Susan McVie Date: January 2019

Submission of evidence to Scottish Parliament Equalities and Human Rights Committee on the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility Bill

Author: Professor Susan McVie Date: 6th September 2018

Has policing reform in Scotland led to a drop in the crime clear up rate?

Author: Professor Susan McVie Date: 30th March 2018

Scottish Government report: Six month review of the Code of Practice for Stop and Search in Scotland

Author: Professor Susan McVie Date: February 2018

Dataset published in the UK Data Service data catalogue: Regional crime trends, local authority and community safety partnership crime trends data for Scotland, England and Wales: violence and burglary  

Author: Dr Ellie Bates Date: November 2017

AQMeN Research Briefing 12: Sexual homicide in Scotland

Authors: Sara Skott, Eric Beauregard and Raj Darjee Date: October 2017

Report: Transforming stop and search

A report by Susan McVie and Kath Murray on how AQMeN research was central to transforming the landscape of stop and search in Scotland through a combination of research, policy engagement and working collaboratively with practitioners.

Date: July 2017

Report:  Stop and search scrutiny: Proportionality, fairness and effectiveness. Report prepared for the SPA Policing Committee.

Authors: Susan McVie and Kath Murray Date: 2017

Journal article: Local variance in the crime drop: A Longitudinal Study of Neighbourhoods in Greater Glasgow, Scotland Authors: Bannister, J., Bates, E. and Kearns, A. Journal: British Journal of Criminology Date: April 2017

AQMeN Impact Case study:   Stop and search in Scotland: transforming policy and practice and influencing cultural change Author: Susan McVie June 2017

AQMeN Impact Case study: Criminal careers and the crime drop: influencing Scotland’s youth justice strategy Author: Ben Matthews June 2017

AQMeN Impact Case Study: Building safer communities: changing the focus of crime reduction strategies in Scotland Author: Susan McVie June 2017

Journal article: The shrinking youth justice population: A change in behaviour or a change in the system? Authors: Lesley McAra and Susan McVie Journal: Scottish Justice Matters, 5(1): 38-39. Date: April 2017

Journal article: International Handbook of Juvenile Justice – Scotland Authors: Michelle Burman and Susan McVie pp. 371-394 2017

Magazine article: Crime hotspots

Author: Ellie Bates Magazine: The Geographer, page 26 Date: 2017

Magazine article: Space, place and crime in an era of ‘big data’

Author: Samuel Langton and Jon Bannister Magazine: The Geographer, page 25 Date: 2017

Journal article: Crime Data and Criminal Statistics: A Critical Reflection

Authors: Mike Maguire and Susan McVie Journal article: In A. Liebling, S. Maruna and L. McAra (eds) Oxford Handbook on Criminology. Sixth edition Date: 2017

Journal article: Recent innovation in developmental and life-course criminology

Authors: McAra, L. and McVie, S. Journal: In A. Liebling, S. Maruna and L. McAra (eds) Oxford Handbook on Criminology Sixth Edition Date: 2017

Journal article: Social order: Crime and Justice in Scotland

Author: Susan McVie Journal: In D. McCrone (Ed) The New Sociology of Scotland. Sage Publications Ltd. Date: 2017

Journal article: Investigating the relationship between the diversity index and frequency of offending Authors: Brian Francis and Les Humphreys Journal: Journal of Developmental and Life Course Criminology, 2(4): 397-416. Date: December 2016

Consultation response:  The need for a new power to search children for alcohol: a review of the evidence Authors: Susan McVie and Kath Murray Scottish Government consultation June 2016

Journal article: Understanding youth violence: The mediating effects of gender, poverty and vulnerability

Authors: Lesley McAra and Susan McVie Journal: Journal of Criminal Justice Volume 45, June 2016, Pages 71-77

Journal article: Are crime statistics and surveys hiding the real extent of domestic forms of violence?

Author: Susan McVie Journal: Scottish Justice Matters Date: June 2016

AQMeN Research Briefing 10: Can we predict escalation in offending seriousness?

Authors: Brian Francis and Jiayi Liu March 2016

Journal article: Smoothing group-based trajectory models through B-splines Authors: Francis, B., Elliott, A. and Weldon, M. Journal: Journal of Developmental and Life Course Criminology, 2(1): 113-133. . Date: 2016

Journal article: Using the UK general offender database as a means to measure and analyse organized crime.

Authors: Stuart Kirby, Brian Francis, Les Humphreys and Keith Soothill Journal: Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 78-94 Date: 2016

Journal article: Understanding youth violence: the mediating effects of gender, poverty and vulnerability .

Authors: Lesley McAra and Susan McVie Journal: Journal of Criminal Justice, 71-77 Date: 2016

Journal article: Comparing trends in convictions and non-court disposals in Scotland

Author: Ben Matthews Journal: Scottish Justice Matters Date: 2016

Report: Understanding and Preventing Youth Crime survey (UPYC) Early Findings: Stop and search in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Report commissioned by the Scottish Police Authority.

Author: Kath Murray Date: 2016

AQMeN research paper:  Police stop and search in Scotland – A brief review of evidence

Author: McVie, S Date: 2015

Scottish Government report – Evaluation of the Whole System Approach to Young People Who Offend in Scotland

Authors:Kath Murray, Paul McGuiness, Michelle Burman and Susan McVie Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research Report June 2015

Journal article: Has Scotland’s falling crime rate benefited everyone equally?

Journal: Scottish Justice Matters Date: June 2015

Journal article: Winners and losers

Authors: Susan McVie, Rebecca Pillinger and Paul Norris

Journal: Britain in 2015 Magazine

Journal article: Scottish Justice Matters: Poverty, Inequality and Justice

Volume3, issue 3 in November 2015 was guest edited by Susan McVie and featured the following articles:

The reproduction of poverty Susan McVie and Lesley McAra

Is poverty reflected in changing patterns of victimisation in Scotland? – Susan McVie, Paul Norris and Rebecca Pillinger

Does place matter? – Dr Ellie Bates

Homicide in Scotland: the need for a deeper understanding – Sara Skott Journal: Scottish Justice Matters Date: November 2015

Journal article: Modelling escalation in crime seriousness: a latent variable approach

Authors: Brian Francis. and Jiayi Liu Journal: Metron. 73(2): 277-297. 2015

Journal article: Comparing Difficulties and Combination Possibilities: Experiences in the United Kingdom

Author: Paul Norris Journal: in Guzy, N, Birkel, C and Mischkowitz, R (Eds) Viktimisierungsbefragungen in Deutschland – Band 2: Methodik und Methodologie Date: 2015

AQMeN Research Briefing 1: Understanding the crime drop in Scotland Les Humphreys, Brian Francis and Susan McVie November 2014

AQMeN Research Briefing 2: Changing patterns of victimisation in Scotland 1993 – 2011

Paul Norris, Rebecca Pillinger and Susan McVie November 2014

AQMeN Research Briefing 3: Local differences in the crime drop: are there winners and losers?

Jon Bannister, Ellie Bates and Ade Kearns November 2014

AQMeN Research Briefing 4: Where have all the young offenders gone?

Ben Matthews November 2014

Journal article: Criminal neighbourhoods: Does the density of prior offenders in an area encourage others to commit crime? Authors: Livingston, M., Galster, G., Kearns, A. and Bannister, J. Journal: Environment and Planning A, 46: 2469-2488. Date: 2014

Journal article: Neighbourhood structures and crime: the influence of tenure mix and other structural factors upon crime rates Authors: Livingston, M., Kearns, A. and Bannister, J. Journal: Housing Studies, 29(1): 1-25. Date: 2014

Journal article: The Scottish Juvenile Justice System: Policy and Practice

Authors: Lesley McAra and Susan McVie Journal: Published in Winterdyk, J. (Ed) Juvenile Justice: International Perspectives, Models and Trends. Date: 2014

• Our Mission
• Team Members
• TC Magazine
• Advisory Board
• 100K for 10
• Criminology at GMU
• Join Our Mailing List
• News & Announcements
• CEBCP in the News
• Calendar of Events
• Achievement Award
• Policing Hall of Fame

• News and Announcements
• Translational Criminology Magazine
• Symposia and Briefings
• Evidence-Based Policing
• Crime and Place
• Systematic Reviews
• Criminal Justice Policy
• CEBCP-W/B HIDTA
• Outreach, Symposia, & Briefings
• Translational Criminology
• CEBCP Video Library
• Criminology & Public Policy
• Technology Web Portal
• COVID-19 Projects
• Crime & Place Bibliography
• Important Links

CPP Call for Papers for Special Issue on Gun Violence

SPECIAL ISSUE ON GUN VIOLENCE Call for Papers for 2024 Special Issue for Criminology & Public Policy Deadline: January 31, 2024

To mark the final issue of their term (Issue 4, 2024), the editors-in-chief of the American Society of Criminology’s flagship policy journal announce a special issue on gun violence. To address this severe and growing threat to public safety and health in the United States and elsewhere, the editors seek studies that:

• Illuminate causes and policy implications of the recent surge in firearms violence in the United States; and
• Evaluate the implementation and/or impacts of legislative policies, criminal justice practices, and community-based efforts to reduce firearms violence in the United States and elsewhere.

Studies may focus on gun crimes generally or on particular forms such as gang-related gun violence, domestic violence with firearms, mass shootings, non-violent gun offenses (e.g., illegal possession, carrying, and sales), and police-involved shootings. Policies, practices, and other programmatic efforts of interest include those that seek to reduce gun violence through deterrence, apprehension, incapacitation, prevention, treatment, and/or the reduction of firearm access to prohibited and high-risk possessors. The editors are particularly interested in how the specific provisions, implementation, and enforcement of gun-related policies and programs shape their impacts on relevant proximal and distal outcomes, which may include both intended and unintended consequences.

As with all papers submitted to CPP , manuscripts must have a clearly articulated and strong connection to policy and practice. Papers for this special issue must be submitted through the ScholarOne online submission site for Criminology & Public Policy by January 31, 2024. Because we intend to publish all submitted and accepted papers in Issue 4 of 2024, we do not anticipate extending this deadline. All papers will go through CPP’s normal peer-review process. For questions about this call for papers, please contact the Editors-in-Chief below.

CHRISTOPHER S. KOPER AND CYNTHIA LUM Editors-in-Chief, Criminology & Public Policy George Mason University Department of Criminology, Law and Society Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy [email protected]; [email protected]

• Share full article

Advertisement

Criminology Student Is Charged in 4 University of Idaho Killings

The college town of Moscow, Idaho, has been reeling since the attack last month, but the police gave no motive for the murders.

By Rachel Sun ,  Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and Serge F. Kovaleski

• Published Dec. 30, 2022 Updated Jan. 5, 2023

MOSCOW, Idaho — The police arrested a 28-year-old criminology student on Friday and charged him with murder in the brutal killing of four University of Idaho college students who were found stabbed to death overnight in a home near their campus last month.

The man, Bryan C. Kohberger, was taken into custody at his parents’ home in Effort, Pa., where it appeared he had been staying recently, according to Michael Mancuso, an assistant district attorney in Monroe County, Pa.

Mr. Kohberger was pursuing a Ph.D. in criminal justice and criminology at Washington State University, which lies about 10 miles from Moscow, Idaho, where the murders took place. He recently entered the program after graduating in June from DeSales University in Center Valley, Pa., with a master’s degree in criminal justice.

Mr. Kohberger was charged in Idaho with four counts of first-degree murder and was being held without bail in Pennsylvania. An extradition hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday.

“These murders have shaken our community, and no arrest will ever bring back these young students,” the Moscow police chief, James Fry, said at a news conference. “However, we do believe justice will be found through the criminal process.”

The arrest of Mr. Kohberger came nearly seven weeks after the college students were stabbed to death on Nov. 13 in a crime that horrified the small Idaho college town and prompted many students to stay home and finish classes online after Thanksgiving break. Residents had grown increasingly frustrated in recent weeks as a killer remained on the loose, and one victim's father had begun to publicly criticize investigators.

The police declined to say anything about the suspect’s possible motive, and they said that a long knife they believe was used to carry out the attacks had not been found. But the arrest of a criminology student added another unsettling element to an already macabre case.

The students who were killed — Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20 — were attacked in at least two separate bedrooms, probably as they slept. The three women lived at the rental house where the attack occurred, while Mr. Chapin was visiting Ms. Kernodle, his girlfriend. Two more roommates apparently slept through the stabbings and did not wake up until several hours afterward.

The police had in recent weeks been searching for the driver of a white Hyundai sedan that they said had been spotted near the victims’ home on the night of the killings. Chief Fry said on Friday that the police had found a car matching that description.

In a post on Reddit from about seven months ago, a user who identified himself as Bryan Kohberger asked people who had spent time in prison to take a survey about crimes they had committed. The survey listed Mr. Kohberger as a student investigator working with two colleagues at DeSales, and it asked respondents to describe their “thoughts, emotions and actions from the beginning to end of the crime commission process.”

B.K. Norton, who was in the same graduate program as Mr. Kohberger, said that he continued attending classes after the killings had occurred and seemed more animated at that time than he had been earlier in the semester.

“He seemed more upbeat and willing to carry a conversation,” Ms. Norton said in an email. She said Mr. Kohberger was interested in forensic psychology.

Ms. Norton said Mr. Kohberger’s quiet, intense demeanor had made people uncomfortable, as had comments he made against L.G.B.T.Q. people.

“He sort of creeped people out because he stared and didn’t talk much, but when he did it was very intelligent and he needed everyone to know he was smart,” Ms. Norton said.

At Mr. Kohberger’s apartment complex in Pullman, Wash., on Friday, several neighbors said they were left unsettled after learning that the suspect had been living so close by and regretted regularly leaving their doors unlocked in the quiet housing development on campus. The complex includes about a dozen apartment buildings, and a children’s playset sat behind the unit where Mr. Kohberger had been living.

Andrew Chua, a graduate student who lived in the same building as Mr. Kohberger, said he briefly met him in August or September. The two spoke about their degrees and where they were from, and Mr. Kohberger had appeared to be excited to continue his studies.

“He was really passionate about what he was doing,” said Mr. Chua.

Another graduate student who knew Mr. Kohberger said he was keenly interested in studying policing. But the student, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of worries about upsetting others in the department, said Mr. Kohberger had few friends at the school. Mr. Kohberger had appeared to want to socialize, the student said, but had made offensive remarks in the past that had left him somewhat isolated.

Students at Washington State University frequently socialize with students from the University of Idaho, which is a 15-minute drive across the state line.

Before moving to Pullman, Mr. Kohberger had spent much, if not all, of his life in the Pocono Mountains region of Pennsylvania.

Casey Arntz, who was one year ahead of Mr. Kohberger at Pleasant Valley High School, said he was known to have a temper and that he did kickboxing, possibly as a way to get his anger out. She said his mother had sometimes worked as a substitute teacher at the high school.

Ms. Arntz, 29, said that she used to occasionally hang out with Mr. Kohberger as part of a group, once hiking a mountain near her parents’ house, but had not seen him since a friend’s wedding in 2017.

According to articles in local newspapers , Mr. Kohberger worked for several years as a security officer with the Pleasant Valley School District, drawing some attention in 2018 for helping another officer save the life of an employee who was having an asthma attack. He left the district in the summer of 2021.

On the night of the killings, the four Idaho students had all spent the night out with friends. Mr. Chapin and Ms. Kernodle attended a party at the Sigma Chi fraternity nearby, while Ms. Mogen and Ms. Goncalves went to a bar called the Corner Club. All four students returned to the home shortly before 2 a.m.

From 2:26 to 2:52 a.m., seven unanswered phone calls were made from Ms. Goncalves’s phone to a former boyfriend. Several calls were also placed to the same man from Ms. Mogen’s phone, the police said. The former boyfriend had not answered the phone because he was sleeping at the time, Ms. Goncalves’s older sister later said.

When the two surviving roommates woke up, they called friends to the house because they believed that one of the women who lived upstairs “had passed out.” When the friends got there, someone in the group called 911 just before noon, and the police arrived to find the victims and what the coroner later described as a bloody scene.

Mr. Chapin’s family welcomed the arrest in a statement on Friday and also acknowledged the long process of grieving that remains ahead for them and other victims’ families.

“We are relieved this chapter is over because it provides a form of closure,” the Chapin family said. “However, it doesn’t alter the outcome or alleviate the pain.”

Ms. Goncalves’s father, Steve Goncalves, who had at one point called the police “cowards” for not releasing more information, commended the police in an interview with Fox News on Friday and said it was the first good news he had heard in some time.

“You can’t even smile, when you have this over your head,” Mr. Goncalves said. “And it feels like a little bit of weight has been relieved.”

Erin Staheli, who has lived in Moscow for about three years and delivers food for DoorDash, said she started crying out of relief when she heard news of the suspect’s arrest. She said she and her boyfriend, who also delivers food for DoorDash, had noticed an increase in orders in the weeks since the crime, which she believed was because people were afraid to go outside.

“It’s been just really scary,” Ms. Staheli said. “Everybody is freaked out.”

At the news conference on Friday, Chief Fry was asked whether the community was safe after so many weeks of fear.

“We have an individual in custody who committed these horrible crimes, and I do believe our community is safe,” he said. “But we still do need to be vigilant, right?”

Rachel Sun reported from Moscow, Idaho, and Pullman, Wash; Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs from New York; and Serge F. Kovaleski from New York. Reporting was contributed by David DeKok , Nate Sanford, Campbell Robertson and Glenn Thrush . Kirsten Noyes contributed research.

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs reports on national news. He is from upstate New York and previously reported in Baltimore, Albany, and Isla Vista, Calif. More about Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

Serge Kovaleski is an investigative reporter on the National Desk. He joined The Times in 2006, and was part of the team awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for the coverage of the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal. More about Serge F. Kovaleski