The value of CCTV surveillance cameras as an investigative tool: an empirical analysis

There has been extensive research on the value of closed-circuit television (CCTV) for preventing crime, but little on its value as an investigative tool. This study sought to establish how often CCTV provides useful evidence and how this is affected by circumstances, analysing 251,195 crimes recorded by British Transport Police that occurred on the British railway network between 2011 and 2015. CCTV was available to investigators in 45% of cases and judged to be useful in 29% (65% of cases in which it was available). Useful CCTV was associated with significantly increased chances of crimes being solved for all crime types except drugs/weapons possession and fraud. Images were more likely to be available for more-serious crimes, and less likely to be available for cases occurring at unknown times or in certain types of locations. Although this research was limited to offences on railways, it appears that CCTV is a powerful investigative tool for many types of crime. The usefulness of CCTV is limited by several factors, most notably the number of public areas not covered. Several recommendations for increasing the usefulness of CCTV are discussed

‘Pranks’ and misjudgment with lethal or highly destructive consequences: Towards a principled approach in sentencing youthful folly

Previous commentaries (Stone, 2017a, 2017b) have sought to anticipate the application of the Sentencing Council’s (2017) Definitive Guideline on Sentencing Children and Young People that came into effect from 1 June 2017. It is now possible to gain some appreciation of the Guideline’s impact in light of recent appeal judgements in cases where first trial hearing was conducted and after that the qualifying date, and the sentencers concerned were thus required (by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 s. 125(1)) to follow that guidance. These judgements have featured instances of youthful misconduct where the harm dimension was very significant – either by causing death or huge financial loss, in each instance by fire – but the perpetrator’s culpability was significantly less so, particularly having regard to their age and stage of developmental maturation

The UK's corporate killing law: Un/fit for purpose?

The annual total of occupational deaths in the UK is measured in the tens of thousands, yet the overwhelming majority attract no criminal justice attention. More recently, a very small number of deaths have generated attempts to prosecute companies for manslaughter. In 1996, following a series of multiple fatality 'disasters', the Law Commission proposed for a new law on corporate manslaughter; in 2008, the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 came into force. It is with the implementation and effects of this Act that this article is concerned. It begins by setting out the dimensions of the new law before analysing the key themes that have emerged from its use to date. In conclusion, I consider whether the law has proven to be unfit for purpose—which begs the question of what that purpose might have been