Findings from the University of East Anglia's evaluation of the Ipswich/Suffolk multi-agency strategy on prostitution following the five murders in 2006

This paper provides a summary of the main findings of an evaluation of a new multi-agency Strategy set up to tackle on-street sex-working, after five prostitutes were murdered in the English county town of Ipswich. It focuses on the outcomes of the Strategy’s four objectives, including their cost-effectiveness. It also offers an insight into the lives of the women who were previously involved in street sex-working, the means by which the Strategy helped them to move towards exiting this work, and the ways in which younger people identified as being at risk of entering it might be prevented from doing so

Prisoners’ Families’ Research: Developments, Debates and Directions

After many years of relative obscurity, research on prisoners’ families has gained significant momentum. It has expanded from case-oriented descriptive analyses of family experiences to longitudinal studies of child and family development and even macro analyses of the effects on communities in societies of mass incarceration. Now the field engages multi-disciplinary and international interest although it arguably still remains on the periphery of mainstream criminological, psychological and sociological research agendas. This chapter discusses developments in prisoners’ families’ research and its positioning in academia and practice. It does not aim to provide an all-encompassing review of the literature rather it will offer some reflections on how and why the field has developed as it has and on its future directions. The chapter is divided into three parts. The first discusses reasons for the historically small body of research on prisoners’ families and for the growth in research interest over the past two decades. The second analyses patterns and shifts in the focus of research studies and considers how the field has been shaped by intersecting disciplinary interests of psychology, sociology, criminology and socio-legal studies. The final part reflects on substantive and ethical issues that are likely to shape the direction of prisoners’ families’ research in the future

School Experiences of Children of Prisoners: Strengthening Support in Schools in England and Wales

Millions of children worldwide experience having their parents sent to prison every year (Penal Reform International 2017). Children who experience a parent spending time in prison, are more likely than any other group of children to face significant disadvantages including increased poverty rates; an increase in caring responsibilities; an increase in being bullied and stigmatisation; a decrease in school attendance and attainment; increased mental health problems and an increase in the risk of offending (Morgan & Gill 2013; Morgan et al 2013a; Morgan et al 2013b). Moreover, parental imprisonment has been shown to have a direct impact on children’s academic attainment as well as socio-emotional development often leading to changes in behaviour which may escalate to school exclusion or truancy (SCIE 2008). This chapter will explore the impact that parental imprisonment can have on children’s school experiences and offer recommendations to strengthen support in schools for this group of children

Sickle cell anaemia and deaths in custody in the UK and USA

A world-leading article that anticipated current criminal justice events: This article has been acknowledged by Parks and Crump, a US firm of attorneys representing the family of Martin Lee Anderson, killed by guards at a Florida boot-camp in January 2006, and currently suing for $40m. http://www.nospank.net/anderson.htmAn unexplained death in custody represents an important focal point for public scrutiny of the criminal justice system, especially when excess deaths occur in those of minority ethnic descent. Sickle cell anaemia is a serious inherited blood disorder disproportionately affecting minority ethnic groups. Sickle cell trait is the genetic carrier state and not an illness. The evidence suggests that the treatment of sickle cell in the criminal justice system is twofold. Justice authorities have misused sickle cell trait to explain away ten sudden deaths, often associated with forced restraint, of African-Caribbean people in custody. Meanwhile, seven deaths have been attributable to lack of provision of health care for those prisoners suffering from the illness sickle cell anaemia