Criminal Justice Demands

Tammy Ayres and Matt Hopkins, School of Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy. Time frame: 2 years over contract.

The Home Office commissioned an REA to synthesize evidence on the relationship between demand and decisions on resource allocation within agencies of the CJS, and how this affects volume and progression of cases. There remains a lack of understanding around how changes to criminal justice demand, policy, practice, and resources impact on case progression, charge volumes, criminal justice outcomes and criminal justice capacity (such as courts and prisons). This presents significant challenges to the criminal justice system (CJS), the agencies that comprise it and its administration of justice. As this was such a huge undertaking, the overarching aim of the REA was narrowed down to synthesize research evidence on how specific innovations within the police influence CJS outcomes with a focus on two areas – trace DNA and Body Worn Cameras (BWCs). These two areas were selected as the research was primarily interested in upstream (i.e., police-led or police focused) changes and how they impact on CJS outcomes downstream (i.e., an increase in charges, convictions or prison places), and will constitute the final report.