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Welcome to the additional material website for

An Introduction to Criminology and Criminal Justice

by Chris Crowther

This website exists to enable you to keep up-to-date with developments in criminal justice policy with particular reference to the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, magistrates’ court, Crown Court, prison and probation services. It includes links to:

  • Criminal justice agency websites.
  • Government websites.
  • Other information sites.

Each site includes basic information, such as facts and figures about the agency. Many will also include press releases, as well as research reports which can be opened and saved in PDF format. Most sites also include links to other related websites. All of them include a search engine that can be used to find key pieces of information.

Some of the Chapters in An Introduction to Criminology and Criminal Justice cover materials that soon become dated, especially in Part III, ‘The Criminal Justice System in Context’. The issues and debates addressed in Parts I, II and IV are also subject to change but these parts of the book focus on more persistent and enduring themes. For that reason this website is here to enable you to keep as up-to-date as much as possible with recent and ongoing developments in contemporary criminal justice policy. This is not as easy as it seems. Take the following two examples:

  • Since this book came into print in the spring of 2007, the Home Office, which is described as having ‘overall responsibility for three key criminal justice agencies’ (p. 137) has been reformed by being split into two parts: the new part is the Ministry of Justice. The latter has also absorbed the Department for Constitutional Affairs). If you click on the following two links you can see how the new arrangements affect the police, courts, prison and probation services: justice.gov.ukand homeoffice.gov.uk


Task: Visit these two sites and write a summary of the main changes that have occurred since the spring of 2007.
  • Between 1997 and 2007 the government passed into law 53 Acts of Parliament dealing with criminal justice. Between 1897 and 1997 there were only 43 pieces of legislation, which shows how much activity there has been (The Guardian 28 th March 2007).


Task: Log on to the two sites highlighted below and identify relevant criminal justice legislation that has been passed into law in 2007: hmso.gov.uklegislation/about_legislation.htm and parliament.uk

In addition to the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice there are a range of other sites, which you should visit, which will give you important information about the structure, roles and responsibilities of criminal justice agencies. A particularly useful site is: cjsonline.gov.uk

A link that is well worth exploring is homeoffice.gov.ukrds/index.htm, which includes Home Office funded research projects. Many of these are written by academic researchers and they provide useful evaluations of government policy.

There are also websites set up by specific agencies, including the police, crown prosecution service, the magistrates’ and Crown courts, the prison and probation services.

When you have read Chapter 6 in the book you can explore more recent developments in the police service. Information about policing policy and practice can be seen by referring to police.uk. From this site you can identify your local constabulary and see what is going on there. However, the general direction of police policy is governed by the Home Office (see above) and the Association of Chief Police Officers ( acpo.police.uk)

In addition there is the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), a specialist agency established, as its name implies, to deal with organised crime such as drugs and people trafficking (soca.gov.uk).

When you have read Chapter 7 you can deepen and broaden your knowledge and understanding of the prosecution and sentencing process, including the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). You will remember from your reading that the next stage takes place in the courts. If you look at the respective sites of the magistrates’ and Crown courts (judiciary.gov.uk and justice.gov.uk) you can view current changes.

The most crucial activity here is sentencing and a useful refresher explaining what goes on can be found at justice.gov.ukwhatwedo/sentencing.htm and homeoffice.gov. uk/justice/what-happens-at-court/sentencing. Developments in sentencing policy are also shaped by the Sentencing Guidelines Council and Sentencing Advisory Panel and you can keep track of its activities here: sentencing-guidelines.gov.uk

Chapters 8 and 9 cover the prison and probation services respectively and you will find details of contemporary issues in policy at probation.homeoffice.gov.uk (the National Probation Service) and hmprisonservice.gov.uk (HM Prison Service). In both of these Chapters in the book numerous references are made to the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), which is intended to integrate probation and prison functions. The future of prison and probation, and NOMS, is still yet to be decided although it is likely that the NOMS model will continue to be significant (see: noms.homeoffice.gov.uk)

 

A range of other organisations provide important information and updates about criminal justice policy, including:

Last but not least, newspapers are an extremely useful source of information, although many reports are based on Home Office and Ministry of Justice press releases. It is strongly recommended that you read an electronic version of at least one of the following newspapers to make sure you are informed about what is happening.

 



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