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This project had a direct impact on practitioners and services, influencing police practice, police training, and judicial cases involving a relatively new and under-reported crime: The Online Dating Romance Scam. It also impacted on society, culture and creativity by stimulating public debate via extensive media coverage. The research established that prevalence was much higher than previously believed, and that existing ideas about typical victim profiles were incorrect. It shed light on psychological risk factors, the processes underlying the scam, and effects on victims. Documenting the emotional effects led to changes in how victims are treated by law enforcement.
Online dating scams have claimed an estimated 230,000 victims in the UK. This study demonstrates how research by the Unit has substantially increased understanding and public awareness of this relatively new and under-reported crime, and helped the police and the online dating industry to address it more effectively. The major beneficiaries of the research, which has attracted international attention, have been:
- the police, nationally and internationally, through assistance, training and advice received on combating the crime and supporting victims;
- the victims, through improvement in the quality of support available to them;
- the public generally, through heightened awareness of the scam.
This case study describes how research on the rights of victims of cyberstalking conducted by a CRiL researcher in collaboration with researchers from other disciplines has:
(a) informed the views of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in the context of the adoption by the European Parliament of a new directive establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime;
(b) influenced the formulation of new prosecutorial policies by the UK Crown Prosecution Service in relation to crimes committed through social media; and
(c) made information available to law enforcement agencies within the UK involved in the repression of cybercrimes.
Through its impact on the adoption of new EU legislation and UK prosecutorial policies, and by providing relevant information to UK law enforcement officials, the research has had a positive impact on the protection of individuals — including in particular the most vulnerable - from cyberstalking, both at the national and European level.
This case study focuses on Aisha Gill's ground-breaking research on violence against women (VAW) in the UK, Iraqi Kurdistan and India as part of the Crucible Centre for Human Rights Research. Gill's research has had a direct impact on local, national and international policy-making and professional practice, in particular, in relation to `honour' based violence (HBV) and forced marriage (FM). This has underpinned her work as an academic commentator, with a strong media profile, her reports and policy briefings on VAW for UK and international public and third sector agencies, as well as an expert witness for the Crown Prosecution Service on HBV and FM cases.
A series of inter-related research projects, conducted over the last decade by Amanda Robinson, has contributed to significant changes in the services afforded to victims of domestic and sexual violence. Dr. Robinson's research has produced identifiable national and international policy impacts as organizations and governments have used findings from her work to inform their decision-making about the development, implementation and funding of services for these victims of crime. Consequently, service delivery for victims of domestic and sexual violence is becoming more holistic, efficient, and effective, both in the UK and beyond.
Some 77% of victims wait until they have had more than 100 incidents of unwanted behaviour before they tell anyone about it. More than 1.2 million women and 900,000 men are stalked in the UK every year (British Crime Survey.) The research investigated the characteristics of stalkers and has: (i) changed police practice in UK police forces in investigating cases of alleged stalking offences through supporting the adoption of the Domestic Abuse, Stalking, and Harassment (DASH) threat assessment checklist within every police station in England and Wales; (ii) informed public policy debate and the introduction of anti-stalking legislation and raising public awareness of the nature and dangers of stalking behaviour.
The research has influenced governments' policy and professional practice in the development of Restorative Justice (RJ) both nationally and internationally, through its evaluation of the effectiveness of RJ schemes in promoting rehabilitation of adult offenders while also considering the views of victims. Policy makers and practitioners have drawn on the research evidence specifically as regards the relative merits of two types of RJ intervention: `conferencing' involving a meeting of victim and offender with their supporters and with a neutral facilitator; and `indirect mediation' involving `shuttling' on the part of the mediator between victim and offender. The research has played a major part in the Ministry of Justice's commissioning of sentencing options in England and Wales, and has directly informed legislation implementing RJ (the Crime and Courts Act 2013).
Bull's research on the legacy of Italian terrorism has enhanced public understanding of the lack of closure around the political violence that convulsed the country in the 1960s to1980s and in doing so has contributed to processes of commemoration, memorialisation and reconciliation. It has benefited communities of interest in civil society, primarily Associations of Victims, school children, and the wider public. Bombing attacks on innocent civilians and an `armed struggle' carried out by ideologically-inspired groups in Italy over the period was responsible for over 15,000 violent acts, resulting in around 500 deaths, and over 1,100 injuries. The Italian Victims' Associations with whom Bull has worked have tried to establish the truth, keep alive public memory, inform the public, and especially the young. They have welcomed the active collaboration and input of informed academics such as Bull.
This research has led the field in understanding the hurts involved in acts of hate crime for victims and offenders. Much of the research has been commissioned and funded by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in the UK. The research has impacted upon:
My Dangerous Loverboy (MDL) is a film and cross-platform media project about sex trafficking that continues to have significant and varied impact across domains of culture and society, public policy and health and welfare. Its most direct impacts have been to raise awareness among potential victims, change the attitudes of workers in frontline agencies and inform and shape public and political debate. Main beneficiaries: the UK Human Trafficking Centre, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (now the National Crime Agency), the National Working Group for Sexually Exploited Young People, the Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education Association (PSHE), Family Planning Association, and the UN Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking.