Log in
This impact case study shows how work by members of the Violence Research Centre (VRC, director Professor Manuel Eisner) at the Institute of Criminology has contributed to policy change related to violence prevention in European countries, and the implementation of new violence prevention strategies at the levels of local and national governments. This impact is based on a stream of research by members of the VRC on the causes and the prevention of all manifestations of interpersonal violence, which is dedicated to generating practically useful knowledge.
The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics (CeDEx) at Nottingham is a world leader in the development and application of experimental and behavioural economics. CeDEx's research is increasingly influential in affecting the way in which experimental methodology is utilised by public sector agencies (e.g. Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, DEFRA) and in fashioning the public and policy makers' understanding of how human motivations and decision processes affect individual and group behaviour and, in particular, their responses to different policy tools (e.g. incentives, regulation, information, `nudges' etc). The research of the CeDEx group has had broad and diffuse impacts on public decision-making and public debate; through public events, the provision of advice to government departments and regulators, the delivery of training workshops, commissioned research and an active strategy of engagement in public debate.
Both the introduction of legislation in England and Wales and the mandatory recording of interviews with criminal suspects has led to an increased examination and understanding of what happens in such interviews. Such studies have led to a prescribed framework, which following its implementation, has led to further study concerning its efficacy in gathering a reliable account. This case study, demonstrates how (through dissemination of the research and through working with practitioners) particular research findings concerning approaches to the investigative interviewing of suspects have influenced the practices of those users of the research both in this country and overseas.
This case study is based on the use of storytelling research developed in Sunderland, to develop professional practice, management development, and interviewing approaches within the police. The research and subsequent impact developed from the convergence of three separate streams of work: The exploration of storytelling as a means to management and organisational development (the work of Reissner and Du Toit), use of storytelling as a research method (Sanders and Lawson) and a stream exploring investigative interviewing techniques. Application of the approaches developed at Sunderland within the police force regionally and nationally has led to evidenced impact at several levels: individual officers, force development and national policy on interviewing practice.
Policymakers in the government departments responsible for health and education, Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) and many thousands of professionals with child-protection roles have benefited from Bristol's research into inter-agency training. The research provided crucial information on efficient organisational partnerships for training and strong evidence of the effectiveness of inter-agency training in promoting mutual understanding, changing attitudes and developing confidence. Bristol's findings underpinned statutory guidance in the Government's Working Together to Safeguard Children (2010) [b], which required LSCBs to provide such training. The research ended a 30-year period during which inquiries into the deaths of children at the hands of their parents consistently criticised the failure of professionals to communicate and work together effectively and advocated inter-agency training as a solution, but had little or no supporting evidence.
Specific impacts are evidenced in: the citation of the research findings in support of LSCBs' training strategies; the increased provision of training programmes in the three years since publication, in spite of budget restrictions; the successful targeting of previously disengaged groups, particularly GPs; and the use of an NSPCC-sponsored bespoke evaluation toolkit developed by the research team.
Changes to the law in the early 1990s removed the need for corroborating or physical evidence in abuse cases and allowed videotaped evidence of a child or other vulnerable witnesses to be used in a criminal court. This necessitated the drawing up of guidance to help police officers and other judicial practitioners, gather crucial evidence while minimising unintentional influence. Research at Leicester has underpinned work to assess and improve the effectiveness of this guidance and to create a framework of procedural best practice. This has influenced and directed the formation of protocols and training development of practitioners for uniform, fair and reliable investigative interviewing of vulnerable witnesses and for accurate identification and interrogative interviewing of suspects in the UK and through the sharing of best practice, across the UK and internationally.
A research team at GCU, led by Professor Liz Gilchrist, exploring aspects of intimate partner violence (IPV) has had a significant impact on IPV practice. The research linked two traditionally conflicting approaches to IPV: the victim/survivor based research emphasising gender in IPV, and the forensic psychology approach focussing on characteristics and criminogenic need in offenders.This has significantly changed practice nationally and internationally, including leading to the development of parenting interventions for men convicted of IPV in Scotland; restructured interventions for victims and offenders in New Zealand and the assessment of dynamic factors for those accessing IPV programmes in Scotland.
The research described here has informed discussion, debate, decision-making and practice among policy-makers working on counter-terrorism and radicalism both within and beyond the UK. It has contributed to the development and implementation of new tools supporting counter-terrorist work; enhanced understanding of important issues relating to terrorist psychology among professionals working in relevant areas; and informed international legal proceedings. These insights have strengthened and informed UK and international policy formulation and helped to generate strategies and practical tools for the implementation of counter-terrorism measures.