Screenshot of footage from a police body-worn camera

Body-worn cameras associated with increased assaults against police, and increase in use-of-force if officers choose when to activate cameras

17 May 2016

Preliminary results from eight UK and US police forces reveal rates of assault against officers are 15% higher when they use body-worn cameras. The latest findings, from one of the largest randomised-controlled trials in criminal justice research, highlight the need for cameras to be kept on and recording at all stages of police-public interaction – not just when an individual officer deems it necessary – if police use-of-force and assaults against police are to be reduced. 

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Prisoner and guard.

Inside information: Students and prisoners study together in course that reveals the power of collaborative education

26 April 2016

A highly innovative project in which Cambridge students and prisoners studied together at a Category B prison in Buckinghamshire has broken down prejudices and created new possibilities for all of those who took part. The researchers behind it suggest that more such collaborative learning initiatives could help dismantle stereotypes and offer prisoners a meaningful vision for the future after release.

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Staff who understood the impacts of prison environments, and attempted to proactively ameliorate those impacts upon prisoners, were more likely to be effective in preventing deaths.

Staff-prisoner relationships are key to managing suicide risk in prison, say researchers

03 July 2015

In the wake of a recent increase in prisoner suicide, new research commissioned by the Harris Review on the views and experiences of prison staff suggests that identifying and managing vulnerable prisoners requires the building of staff-prisoner relationships, ‘knowing the prisoners and understanding what makes them tick’. However, prison staff say that this has been adversely affected by the need to deliver budgetary savings.

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Image from #BlackLivesMatter protest in Berkeley

Police use of force: White House told US must learn from UK

24 February 2015

Cambridge criminologist tells White House task force that translating UK models of policing to US is the best hope in a generation for tackling dangerous rates of ‘justifiable’ homicides committed by US police, and the resultant haemorrhaging of police legitimacy across the nation.

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