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Our research

The Centre for Crime, Justice and Policing

Research themes and projects tackled by the Centre include the following.

Research themes

  • The public health burden of crime
  • Early intervention
  • Crime and technology
  • Evidence based policy and practice
  • Social and political influences on criminal justice policy
  • Public perception, understanding and experience of crime
  • Legislation and the criminal justice system
  • Crime Linkage
  • Violence Against Women and Girls
  • Domestic Abuse and Intimate partner violence
  • Sexual/Violent offending and Youth Violence
  • Knife Crime
  • Vulnerability
  • Linguistic analysis
  • Child trauma, maltreatment & protection (online and offline)
  • Mental health & policing
  • Staff wellbeing
  • Memory & recognition
  • Electronic monitoring/bail
  • Predictive analytics and risk modelling

Current and recent projects

Examples of previous research projects

Evaluation of The CARA (Cautioning and Relationship Abuse) Service

The information presented and analysed in the report was contributed by the Hampton Trust, West Midlands Police, and Hampshire Constabulary and was funded by the Home Office.

Police Knowledge Fund

This was a £1.1 million project funded jointly by the Home Office and HEFCE via the College of Policing. 

  • Birmingham researchers in this projects were Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay (Economics), Jessica Woodhams (Psychology), Matthew Cole (Economics), Nathan Hughes (Social Policy), Layla Branicki (Strategy and International Business) and Penelope Tuck (Accounting).

Domestic Perpetrator Programme Evaluation

Economics, Psychology and Social Policy academics were commissioned by Sandwell Council to evaluate the effectiveness of a community based domestic violence perpetrator programme. 

  • Researchers working on this project were Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay (PI, Economics), Surinder Guru(Social Policy and Social Work), Jessica Woodhams (Psychology), Aixa Garcia Ramos (Economics) and Jessica Eaton (Psychology).

Norfolk and Suffolk Constabularies and Police and Crime Commissioners: Research, Development and Training in Evidence Based Policing

Norfolk and Suffolk Constabularies and OPCCs commissioned the Better Policing Collaborative to assist in the development of EBP within their policing practice. Birmingham led leading on a series of evaluations of policing interventions/practice. The overall package was led by Jessica Woodhams and Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay. 

Best Practice in the Handling of Police Calls

Researchers from Life and Environmental Sciences and Social Sciences were commissioned to evaluate how this process works in practice. 

  • Researchers: Jessica Woodhams and Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay.

Embedding Lawyers in Public Protection Units to provide Early Investigative Advice (EIA)

Academics in Social Sciences and Life and Environmental Sciences collaborated with colleagues from the University of Nottingham to evaluate a national trial of embedding CPS lawyers within police units to provide EIA. This work is being partly funded by the College of Policing. 

  • Researchers: Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay (UOB), Jessica Woodhams (UOB) and Eddie Kane (University of Nottingham)

ESRC IAA Funded Project on the use of ANPR data to help solve sexual offences

A collaboration between Psychology (Dr Jessica Woodhams, Kari Davies) and Economics (Dr Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay) investaigated the utility of ANPR data in linking sexual offences. This also involved determining the appropriate data parameters for the preservation of data for current/future police investigations nationally and assessing the optimum retention period to assist with the investigation of sexual and other serious crimes.

Experimental Psychology Society and Police Knowledge Fund Funded Project on Detecting “Deception” using EEG techniques

Professors Bowman, Beech and Dr Woodhams (Psychology, UoB and Computer Science, Kent) worked together to investigate the potential use of EEG techniques for criminal investigations and vetting. With funding from the EPS and PKF, the researchers assessed the accuracy with which EEG techniques can detect undisclosed familiarity with places and personal identifiers (e.g., names).

Therapeutic Environments for Youth Custody

Economic and Social Research Council, Impact Acceleration Account c£15,665 PI 2016-18

  • PI: Dominique Moran (Geography)

‘Fear-suffused environments’ or potential to rehabilitate? Prison architecture, design and technology and the lived experience of carceral spaces

Economic and Social Research Council £728,214 2014-2017 ES/K011081/1

  • Researchers Yvonne Jewkes (U.Brighton) and Dominique Moran (UOB, Geography)

Breaking the Cycle? Prison Visitation and Recidivism in the UK

Economic and Social Research Council £361,191 2012-2016 ES/K002023/1

  • Researchers: Dominique Moran (PI, Geography, UOB) and Louise Dixon (Psychology, Victoria U. Wellington, New Zealand)