Identifying and responding to sexual violence

Sexual violence can take many forms, including rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment. It is important to be aware of the signs of sexual violence, which can include physical injuries, changes in behaviour, or emotional distress. Rape: A person (A) commits an offence of rape if: he intentionally penetrates the… Continuing a series of articles for WWO, Anjum Mouj says Identifying and responding to sexual violence is crucial to providing support and justice to survivors. ...

Supporting children's compliance on community supervision

The new “Academic Insight” report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation is authored by Mairéad Seymour from Technological University Dublin and focuses on compliance and strategies that pro-actively support and encourage substantive compliance by children and young people. The Academic Insight series is aimed at people interested in research and developments… Research shows that for many youth offenders the threat of a return to court for being non-compliant holds limited power and alternative approaches are required. ...

MoJ announces body-worn video cameras for every prison officer

Every prison officer in England and Wales now has access to a body-worn video camera while on shift. Lord Chancellor Alex Chalk has announced that 13,000 new cameras are now available across public sector prisons in his first week in post. The new devices have doubled the total number across… 13,000 additional cameras have been made available for prison officers while they are on shift. ...

Children held in solitary confinement

HM Chief Inspector of prisons has issued an Urgent Notification to the Secretary of State for Justice, demanding immediate action to improve the conditions in which children are being held at Cookham Wood Young Offenders Institution in Kent. What is an Urgent Notification? The Urgent Notification (UN) protocol requires the… Chief prison inspector demands urgent action after finding boys kept in solitary confinement...

Gambling and crime

Yesterday the Howard League’s Commission on Crime and Gambling Related Harms published its final report. The report calls for a “greater central drive” from the Home Office and Ministry of Justice, together with more funding to be provided locally and regionally, to develop a treatment and support infrastructure through the police,… The Commission recommends the creation of a national board to address crime linked to gambling – including senior representatives from the police...

New resource for young men moving from YOI to prison

Through this project a unique group of young adults were formed with lived experience of the justice system and care system, to become policy advisors and advocates for lived experience voices and change at the national level. The group has published a range of resources created by teams of young… The Young Justice Advisors was created in 2016 with funding from the Barrow Cadbury Trust by Leaders Unlocked. ...

Women veterans in prison

This new research is based primarily on interviews with 30 women veterans aged between 38 and 67 years old. The women interviewed for this research had very different experiences of service life. Some found military service to have been a very positive experience and their difficulties only started when they left,… A new report from Salute Her UK and Forward Assists shines a light on the hitherto hidden population of women veterans in contact with the criminal justice system. ...

Dispelling common myths around domestic abuse in the UK

Domestic abuse is a pervasive problem in the UK, with an estimated 1.6 million women and 786,000 men experiencing domestic abuse in the past year alone[1]. Unfortunately, there are many myths surrounding domestic abuse that can prevent victims from seeking help or getting the support they need. Here are common… Anjum Mouj continues a series of articles on domestic abuse by looking at more than 20 common myths about the issue ...

Living (and dying) as an older person in prison

A report from the Nuffield Trust “Living (and dying) as an older person in prison” sets out to understand the biggest health care challenges for our ageing prisoner population. The report analyses admitted patient care data and outpatient data from 2019/20 to examine how people in prison aged 50 or… The number of older people in prison has grown disproportionately over recent years according to a report from the Nuffield Trust...

Detention in the UK 'a mixed bag'

The National Preventive Mechanism is the network of independent bodies that have responsibility for preventing ill-treatment in detention. In every jurisdiction of the UK –Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales – the bodies in this network have the job of inspecting or monitoring every place of detention with the aim of… The UK’s National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) published its 13th annual report (covering the financial year 2021/22) in which it describes the crises of staffing, under-funding and slow COVID recovery ...