News

"The Center for Court Innovation, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, is pleased to announce the 2016 Community Court Grant Program. This initiative seeks to advance community justice by supporting the creation and enhancement of community-focused courts that work to restore public confidence in justice and create new responses to low-level crime. Jurisdictions will receive funding and technical assistance to support their efforts to promote local alternatives to incarceration. Ten grants of up to $200,000 each will be made. Proposals are due on Friday, February 19, 2016 by 5pm EST. If you have any questions, please contact Katherine Cassirer at cassirerk@courtinnovation.org.

"Violent extremist groups represent one of today's most pressing security threats. With the increasingly large amounts of territory that they occupy, the substantial resources they generate, and their sophisticated use of social media and communication tools to propagate their message and incite violence, urgent and coordinated approaches are needed to counter these groups. With this evolution of violent extremism in mind an increasing number of Member States have voiced concerns over the risk that Environments."

"Representatives from Member States and senior officials from leading international law enforcement organizations met to launch a new UNODC Global Programme on Building Effective Networks Against Transnational Organized Crime - known as BENATOC. The global programme aims to improve intelligence-sharing and enhance capacities to collect and analyze data,promote a network of law enforcement training and educational institutions".

In Europe, around 300 million crimes are reported to the police every year. Leaving victims vulnerable and often in need of assistance, while they may have to speak to police officers, lawyers and judges and ultimately go to court. The EU Victims’ rights directive establishes minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime ensures that victims are recognised, treated with respect and receive proper protection, support and access to justice. At November 16th 2015 all EU Member States should have implemented the European Victim’s Rights Directive into national law. They must also have notified to the European Commission national measures transposing the EU rules. These notifications land on the desk of legal officer Katarzyna Janicka-Pawlowska. CEP asked her for an update a few weeks after the deadline.

The recent shift in juvenile justice policy, particularly in the past five years, marks a departure from laws enacted 20 years ago, which largely held youth accountable through adult sentencing options. Today, states are re-examining their policies to produce more effective responses to youth crime and improve overall justice systems. This report from the National Conference of State Legislatures examines these states’ efforts and recent trends in juvenile justice legislation within states across the country. Trends that have emerged from states include: •Restoring jurisdiction to the juvenile court •Diverting youth from the system •Reforming detention •Shifting resources from incarceration to community-based alternatives •Pro­viding strong public defense for youth •Addressing racial and ethnic disparities in justice systems •Responding more effectively to the mental health needs of youth involved with the justice system •Improving reentry and aftercare programs for youthmore ›

"136th WHO Executive Board welcomed the Global status report on violence prevention 2014 On 2 February, members of the 136th WHO Executive Board discussed the Global status report on violence prevention 2014, produced jointly by WHO, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the United Nations Development Programme. Eighteen Member States commented during the discussion, including several that spoke on behalf of all countries in their region. They commended the partners on having produced this first ever report, which reviews data on violence prevention programmes, policies and laws, and services for victims from 133 countries. Several Member States noted the relevance of the report as a basis for development of WHO's Global plan of action to strengthen the role of the health sector within a multisectoral response to address interpersonal violence, in particular against women and girls, and against children. The report revealed that 475 000 people were murdered in 2012, and homicide is the third leading cause of death globally for males aged 15-44 years. It indicated that only one third of countries surveyed are implementing large-scale initiatives to prevent violence, such as bullying prevention programmes, visits by nurses to families at risk, and support to those who care for older people; just over half the countries are fully enforcing a set of 12 laws generally acknowledged to prevent violence; and only half of all countries have services in place to protect and support victims of violence. Given this, the report served to document an urgent need for more decisive action to prevent violence. In 2015, the report was the focus of numerous regional and national policy discussions, and was presented to various international fora addressing violence and its prevention."

"In July 2015, consultations with WHO's six regional offices on draft zero of the Global plan of action to strengthen the role of the health sector within a multisectoral response to address interpersonal violence, in particular against women and girls, and against children were completed. The gatherings provided an opportunity for more than 220 representatives of government ministries as well as United Nations agencies, NGOs, academic institutions and professional bodies to provide technical comments. Among their suggestions were to better highlight the role of the health system within a multi-sectoral context, strengthen the life-course approach, and ensure that the plan has strong sections on not only all forms of interpersonal violence, but also violence against women and girls and violence against children. Draft one of the plan, which outlines actions for Member States, national and international partners, and the WHO Secretariat, was open for web-based consultation from September to October and was the subject of a formal meeting of Member States from 2-4 November. Based on the discussion the WHO Secretariat has developed a revised draft of the plan for consideration by the 138th Session of the WHO Executive Board in January 2016 and possibly the World Health Assembly in May 2016."

"By Greg Berman and John Feinblatt "Greg Berman and John Feinblatt, in their new book Good Courts, put forward fundamental reforms to restore accountability and legitimacy to our criminal justice system." – Mother Jones A new edition of Good Courts featuring an introduction by former New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman is now available from Quid Pro Books. Greg Berman and John Feinblatt’s seminal book about problem-solving justice, Good Courts documents the work of community courts, drug courts, domestic violence courts, and other problem-solving courts. Along the way, Berman and Feinblatt make the case that meaningful alternatives to incarceration can help reduce crime and improve public trust in justice. Praise for Good Courts: Center for Court Innovation "Good Courts offers a roadmap of the role that courts can play in improving the safety of victims, the strength of communities, and the well-being of defendants. I hope that the reformers of tomorrow take heed." -- Jonathan Lippman, Former New York State Chief Judge "Greg Berman and John Feinblatt put forward fundamental reforms to restore accountability and legitimacy to our criminal justice system." -- Mother Jones "An accessible and provocative call for change." -- Publishers Weekly "This is a well-informed and well-argued book that should be welcomed as a substantial contribution to scholarship on American courts." -- Criminal Justice Review "Sociologists and those within the legal system will no doubt be intrigued by this accessible and provocative call for change." – Publishers Weekly American criminal courts are in desperate need of reform. Public confidence in justice is at an all-time low. Victims, communities and even offenders see courts as unable to respond effectively to complex social and legal problems like drugs, domestic violence and quality-of-life crime. Even many judges and attorneys think that the courts produce assembly line justice".

HEvent status: Not started (Register) Date and time: Thursday, January 21, 2016 2:00 pm Eastern Standard Time (New York, GMT-05:00) Change time zone Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes Date: Thursday, Jan. 21 Time: 2–3:30 p.m. ET From 2011 to 2013, the CSG Justice Center partnered with NIATx—a learning collaborative within the University of Wisconsin, Madison’s Center for Health Enhancement Systems Studies—to bring the NIATx process improvement model to criminal justice agencies in three jurisdictions: DeKalb County, Georgia; Durham County, North Carolina; and the State of Maryland. The NIATx model uses best practices from business process improvement approaches to promote innovation and systems change with a focus on reducing wait times and no-shows, and increasing admissions and continuation of behavioral health treatment. The work culminated in a paper—Bringing NIATx to Corrections: Three Pilot Studies—which identified the ability to track, collect, and use data as challenges across the three pilot sites during the implementation of the process improvement model. This led to the development, in partnership with George Mason University’s Center for Advancing Correctional Excellence, of process measures at the interface between criminal justice and behavioral. This webinar will discuss how individuals access treatment as they reenter their communities from prisons and jails, as well as process measures that can assist in reentry.

The main objective of the 1st Call for Proposals is to select projects testing bold and unproven ideas on the following topics: Energy transition Integration of migrants and refugees Jobs and skills in the local economy Urban poverty with a focus on deprived neighbourhoods

Registration open - International Crime and Intelligence Analysis Conference 25-26 February 2016 Manchester, England. Venue: Manchester Central Conference Centre, M2 3GX Twitter: #ICIAC16 In collaboration with the UK and Ireland Association of Crime and Intelligence Analysts (ACIA).

UCL Jill Dando Institute Crime Analysis training course Monday 11th - Thursday 14th April 2016 http://www.ucl.ac.uk/scs/cpd-events Course cost: £1395 “I have been a police analyst for six years. I never really learn anything on the courses my Force send me on. If I’m honest, they are a bit of a waste of time. But this course ... Wow! I learned so much, particularly about different types of data and techniques.” Police Senior Intelligence Analyst The UCL JDI Crime Analysis course offers the essential skills that an analyst requires to become pro-actively involved in information-driven, evidence-led, problem solving approaches to reducing crime, ASB and other community safety issues. The course is highly interactive, and is designed to improve an analyst’s awareness of data that are available across a range of agencies for analysis, extend their skills in analytical techniques, and build their confidence in ensuring that analysis is used to influence decision-making. The course places great emphasis on helping analysts to develop good quality problem profiles and target profiles.

The recent terror actions are tragic evidence of the continuous need for new strategies, approaches and methods to prevent and respond to radicalisation and violent/militant extremism. The “Communities Counteracting Radicalisation” (CoCoRa) project aims to develop a new, bottom-up and inclusive approach to prevent violent extremism. The five CoCoRa partners met on 10th and 11th December in Helsingør, Denmark, to launch the project, which is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission. Partner organisations come from Denmark, Germany, Austria, France and Italy. The CoCoRa project departs from the observation that in previous efforts there seemed to be skepticism about the involvement of local communities and civil society resources in the activities, especially those with a Muslim background. This reluctance may, however, increase the distance between youngsters with Muslim background from the surrounding society, which may lead in some cases to the development of sympathies for fundamentalist and/or violent extremist thoughts. On this background, the CoCoRa project aims to develop and test a new prevention strategy that involves local communities and citizens with a Muslim background directly and actively in the prevention of radicalisation and violent extremism. The CoCoRa partners will start with the Collaborative Programme, which foresees the establishment of a close cooperation with local communities of citizens with a Muslim background. Jointly with local communities, each partner will then prepare and plan a Prevention Programme for young people from the collaborating communities. This will be a long-term course of various activities focused on topics like equal and active citizenship in practice, antidiscrimination, democracy and citizen’s rights etc. Young people from the prevention programme will be further trained in becoming spokesmen (“Ambassadors”) for young people with Muslim background towards local authorities and professionals in the general prevention effort. Finally, the CoCoRa Prevention Strategy will be developed, a total prevention package, composed by available, usable and transferable methods and tools from the community-based strategy. CESIE will lead the development of the Ambassador Programme, implement the project in Italy, and guide and coordinate all dissemination activities. Project partners are: ◾mhtconsult, Denmark, coordinator of the project ◾ADICE, France ◾Cultures Interactive, Germany ◾Verein Multikulturell, Austria ◾CESIE, Italy

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is accepting applications from states interested in effectively implementing a comprehensive, statewide plan to reduce recidivism and improve other outcomes for youth involved in the juvenile justice system. Announced by OJJDP Administrator Robert Listenbee at “Improving Outcomes for Youth in the Juvenile Justice System: A 50-State Forum”—a convening in November organized by The Council of State Governments Justice Center and OJJDP, with support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation—this funding opportunity draws on Second Chance Act funds. The grant is intended to help states implement plans to improve outcomes for youth under juvenile justice system supervision....

The 2016 Vienna UN Conference was held from January 13-15 at the Vienna International Centre. Some of the speeches from this event are available on the ACUNS website. Keynote address by OSCE Secretary General, Lamberto Zannier. Speech at the opening session by Angela Kane, Former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs.

UCL Department of Security and Crime Science: Open Evening for the MSc in Countering Organised Crime and Terrorism, the MSc in Crime Science, the MSc in Crime and Forensic Science and the upcoming MSc in Policing. The evening is an excellent opportunity to meet some of the course tutors and ask questions. They will discuss in detail the content and logistics of our courses, as well as how the course fits into your future career plans. They will also discuss the 14 scholarships on offer. Most of the courses now available via Distance Learning Tuesday 23rd February 2016, from 6-8pm Venue: Gustav Tuck Lecture Theatre, Wilkins Building, UCL, Gower St, London, WC1E 6BT The open evening begins with a talk: "Evidence-based crime reduction - what works in preventing crime” Dr Jyoti Belur, UCL