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National and international policy on domestic violence has been strongly influenced since 2008 by a series of studies on domestic violence conducted at the University of Bristol, resulting for example in the piloting of a national disclosure scheme. The studies have also had a positive impact on the practical ways in which agencies such as the police respond to domestic violence as well as influencing the development of a European Police handbook on domestic violence. The criminal justice system, practitioners and victims have benefited from the studies' insights into the `attrition' that can occur between the reporting of an act of domestic violence to the police and the final outcome in court. They have also gained from Bristol's work on the profiles of perpetrators and the behavioural differences between male and female perpetrators.
Pioneering research by the Universities' Police Science Institute (UPSI) has made police more effective at understanding and responding to crime and disorder. UPSI's work has provided an evidence base about how to engage effectively with communities so that policing interventions target those issues influencing how people think, feel and act about their safety. Key impacts have been: changing Home Office policy for the policing of antisocial behaviour across England and Wales; informing the Prevent counter-terrorism strategy for the UK and overseas and improving the outcomes of South Wales Police's Neighbourhood Policing Teams.
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.
Since the 1980s, there has been a wave of global activity seeking improved control of money laundering and confiscation of crime proceeds. This set of research studies, based around the work of Professor Mike Levi, constitutes core empirical analysis of the scale of financial crimes, and what can be properly said about the impacts of social and formal control measures against them. The studies have informed and helped to shape the fraud, money laundering and organised crime strategies of the UK Home Office, UK enforcement agencies, and international bodies such as the EC Justice and Home Affairs and IMF post-2008.
We have formulated and executed an extensive public engagement and outreach programme based on our leading technical and scientific involvement in the Herschel Space Observatory, a €1 billion astronomical satellite which was launched in 2009 and operated until April 2013. Herschel observed the Universe at far-infrared and submillimetre wavelengths with three scientific instruments, one of which (SPIRE) was built by an international team led by the Cardiff Astronomy Instrumentation Group, and Cardiff astronomers have been at the forefront in scientific use of Herschel and SPIRE. The beneficiaries of our PR and outreach programme include schoolchildren teachers, the media and the general public. The programme has achieved high exposure and impact locally, nationally and internationally. It provides inspirational personal contact and up-to- date material and information which has stimulated widespread and continuing interest in Herschel and also helped to raise the profile of STEM subjects, ultimately benefiting the economy.
Research on combating interpersonal violence carried out by Dr Erica Bowen (Reader in the Psychology of Intimate Partner Violence) has resulted in:
Our evaluation of gang member rehabilitation and violence reduction programme in Glasgow has had considerable and enduring policy impact. Scottish Government policy is built on the principals our research espouses. Homicide rates in Scotland are now at a thirty-year low. The Prime Minister and national newspapers cited the initiative as a solution after the London riots and the UK Government incorporated the ethos of this program into their policy and practice. Working jointly with the WHO, we are having impact in South Africa, Jamaica and Lithuania. For example, the Western Cape Province of South Africa has, following our involvement and for the first time, initiated a violence reduction strategy. The most important impact of our work, however, is the change it creates in young people's lives, transforming their prospects from those of a lifetime of intermittent imprisonment to one of useful and meaningful societal involvement and contribution.
Brookman's research has produced new insights into the nature and circumstances of homicide and homicide investigation. The first four pages on the Murder Investigation Manual, commonly viewed as the definitive guide on homicide investigation in Britain, are based on Brookman's research on the characteristics of homicide. The directives of the International Association of Chiefs of Police based in the United States (US) devote one or their top ten directives to Brookman's proposals on broadening outcome assessments. The Prince George's County Police Department in the US is currently considering implementing Brookman's proposals to include Family Liaison Officers as part of their process of homicide investigation.
Criminology research by SQUIRES has changed national and European policy, practice and debate on public safety. Evidence based on the research submitted to the UK Home Affairs Select Committee influenced directly legal changes, policy guidance and policing innovations tackling gun crime and developing more effective firearms controls. For 20 years, SQUIRES' research has engaged directly with the community and inter-agency agendas in policing, firearms control and public safety, demonstrating that improvements in accountability, research evidence and effective evaluation are critical issues for gun control and (CCTV) surveillance policy. SQUIRES is a leading public academic in the field so that research, public and political engagement and impact are mutually reinforcing. The research comprises on-going critical involvement with public debate and policymaking including SQUIRES' appointment to the Association of Chief Police Officers National Advisory Committee on Criminal Use of Firearms. SQUIRES also contributed directly to the European Charter on CCTV surveillance, adopted by the EU in 2010.
Domestic violence is a serious and pernicious problem, affecting one in four women, and a significant number of men. Despite this, in general, legal responses to domestic violence have not been as effective as they could be. Professor Mandy Burton has carried out wide-ranging research for UK government departments and public bodies, including the Home Office, Ministry of Justice (MOJ), Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Legal Services Commission (LSC) specifically designed to inform legal and policy change on domestic violence. Her work informed the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act in 2004, and was important in helping to develop more than 100 Specialist Domestic Violence Courts across the country.