News

Proudly held in cooperation with the World Society of Victimology (WSV)

DATE: 7 May (Monday) – 19 May (Saturday) 2018

Venue: Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik, Croatia

This informative and exciting course in Victimology, Victim Assistance and Criminal Justice, brings together approximately 80 international students, and 50 internationally renowned experts from the field of victimology, criminology, and criminal justice. The course covers the areas of the Theory and History of Victimology; UN Declarations and Victim Activities; Restorative Justice; Human Trafficking Victims; Victims in Various Criminal Justice Systems; Victimization of Women; Victim Compensation and Restitution; Crisis and Crisis Intervention; Refugees as victims; and much more. Proudly held in cooperation with the World Society of Victimology (WSV)

In the United States and Canada, community readiness and mobilization strategies have been increasingly adopted by communities since the mid-1990s to address social issues, prevent crime, and improve cohesiveness among citizens. These pro-active and adaptable models allow the community and its members to identify the criminal, social or even health issues impacting them, and devise a plan to address problems on a broad level.

Such strategies also allow unique populations, including Indigenous communities, to tailor interventions to their particular needs, such as cultural and traditional learning.

Public Safety Canada provides national leadership in crime prevention by developing and disseminating practical knowledge on cost-effective programs and practices which address known risk and protective factors. The following research highlights provide guidelines that are complementary to the federal role of knowledge dissemination. By strengthening community readiness and mobilization, crime prevention efforts are strengthened. Furthermore, assessing community readiness and engaging partners are central steps at the pre-implementation phase.

A well-planned and defined pre-implementation phase increases the probability of adequate program rollout as well as the chance of achieving the desired positive outcomes for participants.

September 20, 2017

publication cover

The Judges and Psychiatrists Leadership Initiative (JPLI) released Supporting People with Serious Mental Illnesses and Reducing Their Risk of Contact with the Criminal Justice System, a primer developed for psychiatrists to better understand the principles of the Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model and address the forensic needs of patients who have serious mental illnesses (SMIs) and a criminal justice history. As leaders in behavioral health, psychiatrists are in a unique position to address these patients’ complex needs, but may need further training on how to identify those needs.

With expert input from leading clinical and forensic psychiatrists, this primer provides the following:

•An overview of how a person moves through the criminal justice system

•Ways to discuss and obtain patients’ criminal justice history

•Basic principles of the RNR Model, which is used by criminal justice professionals to identify the factors that contribute to person’s risk of recidivism and tailor interventions based on the identified factors

Psychiatrists who understand the ways in which these patients’ needs are informed by their criminal justice history can help their patients achieve their recovery goals and reduce their chances of contact with the criminal justice system by incorporating interventions that address these patients’ criminogenic risks and needs into their treatment plans. The primer was developed with the support of the American Psychiatric Association Foundation (APAF).

The JPLI aims to stimulate, support, and enhance efforts by judges and psychiatrists to improve judicial, community, and systemic responses to people with behavioral health needs who are involved in the justice system by: •Creating a community of judges and psychiatriststhrough web-based and in-person trainings, and the development and distribution of a newsletter to judges and psychiatrists;

•Increasing the reach of trainingsin order to build the non-clinical skills of court professionals, which will help improve individual and public safety outcomes; •Developing educational resourcesto increase judges’ and psychiatrists’ understanding of the latest research and best practices for people with mental illnesses involved in the justice system.

Practitioners working in prisons and probation deal with people who have acted on a violent extremist ideology, as well as individuals at risk of radicalisation. Arrests on suspicion of Jihadist terrorism account for the largest proportion of arrests in the EU in recent years.

Prison and probation interventions aim to ensure security and safety (for the offender(s) in question, staff, other offenders and society at large), and to support offender rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

This approach is based on the following principles:

◾offenders' well-being and rehabilitation must be promoted to ensure safety; ◾individuals sentenced for terrorist acts do not all pose the same risk to society;

◾offenders are capable of positive change, and need support to disengage from extremism;

◾universal human rights must be upheld at all times;

◾positive staff-prisoner relationships and healthy prison settings are important; ◾multi-agency cooperation is crucial.

UNODC develops tools for stakeholders to assist States in the implementation of the UN standards and norms. They include a variety of handbooks, training curriculums and model laws which provide guidance to United Nations agencies, governments and individuals at each stage of criminal justice reform.

•The 2016 version of the Compendium of United Nations standards and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice is available here in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish.

The 2006 version of the Compendium is also available in Portuguese and Farsi, however, please note the Portuguese and Farsi versions are not official UN translations.

•UN standards and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice for Peacekeepers English, French, Spanish

•UN Criminal Justice Standards for UN police English, French

•Addendum to the Standards of Professional Responsibilities and Statement of the Essential Duties and Rights of Prosecutors: Compilation of comments received from Member States, English

•Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination of Violence against Women in the Field of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish

•United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules) English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish

•United Nations Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems English, Arabic, French, Chinese, Russian, Spanish

•UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Finnish, German NEW!

Behind locked doors, many prisoners confront the big questions in life for the first time. In his early 20s, Ryan Williams asked those same questions as he explored his own spirituality. As a social scientist interested in theology and religion, Williams runs courses that bring prisoners and Cambridge students together.

I first went into a prison four years ago. The physical structure of prison is chilling. It is massively imposing. Something approaching normal life goes on inside but at lock-up time, you hear the cell doors being slammed shut and silence descends.

Questions of faith, especially Islam, have become increasingly sensitive — even more so in prison than in the world outside. Strongly held faith is viewed as a source of conflict. Belief in Islam is regarded with growing suspicion, particularly when the believer is a convert.

Quite rightly, prisons make provision for residents to follow their religious practices. But open discussions about faith, and differences in faith, don’t really happen. While this is understandable, the lack of conversation about a central aspect of people’s lives keeps it under a shroud of suspicion.

I hope to make a contribution by opening up a dialogue about religion and its diverse forms of expression. Much of my past work looked at inter-faith relations and my research has shown me that people do really want to talk about the ethical and religious frameworks that play a part in their lives and to learn from others.

Prisoners have aspirations to better themselves, just like the rest of us. They want to be better fathers, to reach personal goals, to do good for others, to do the right thing and live well.

Trust is vital to relationships and personal growth. That’s one of the reasons I’m taking part in a Cambridge-led scheme called Learning Together. The programme brings university students and prisoners together to learn with each other and from each other. I’m helping to expand the course into Theology and Religious Studies. Both prisoners and theology students share the common experience of wrestling with the big questions in life.

‘The Good Life and the Good Society’. That’s the title of a ten-week course I run with a colleague at a high security prison near Cambridge. Last year we ran the course with 16 undergraduates and graduate students from Cambridge and 14 students from the prison. The course will run again from January 2018 and we expect the same number of students. Each week we go into the prison and listen to a short talk from a Cambridge professor and learn alongside one another.

I arrived in Cambridge from Canada to take a doctorate in the Divinity Faculty. My PhD looked at open-mindedness in the context of belief. Once you’ve got your PhD, it’s tempting to think that your education is complete. In fact it’s just beginning. That’s the great thing about being a researcher: the chance to carry on learning.

I found my PhD a horrendous slog. Rowing, something I’d never done before, got me through it. I rowed for my college, Clare Hall, and eventually served as captain. It was difficult to find self-confidence while doing a PhD. Rowing helped build that confidence and provided a healthy outlet. These days I don’t have time to row: I have three young children to wrestle with.

When I was a teenager it never crossed my mind that I’d be an academic. I was brought up in a city near the Rocky Mountains and scraped into my local university. I began a course in business and my grades were miserable. But the North American university system is flexible and, because I was interested in religion, I signed up for a couple of courses in Religious Studies.

A year in India was a turning point. I went there because I wanted to learn more about other cultures and religions — and I wanted to explore. I did courses at an Indian university with other Canadian students and spent a few months travelling. The experience was transformative, and I returned to university in Canada knowing what I really wanted to do. Once I’d dropped business and was taking courses in Religious Studies, my grades shot up and I did exceptionally well.

People often ask me if I have a faith. I explain that I started going to church when I was 16 or so, interestingly, at about the same age as many people turn to crime. I knew of some people who took that route. It may be that religion — and a beautiful woman who is now my wife — saved me from making poor decisions in life.

I’m not good at theoretical stuff — I don’t think I’m clever enough — I prefer getting out in the real world and talking to people. Much of my work is based on interviews, and it’s only from there that I begin to understand theory. I find individual lives very absorbing and compelling. We can learn so much from each other.

Prison is a place of extremes, and I don’t know how people cope with it. I would probably be one of those people who ‘smashes up my cell’ — I wouldn’t cope.

What fascinates me, and drives me to look deeper, is the messiness of humans — and how people cope with, and overcome, adversity. In order to be open to other people’s beliefs and ideas, you have to examine your own assumptions and make space for the surprises that other people can bring.

This profile is part of our This Cambridge Life series.

Mental and emotional health and well-being of youth is a serious health issue in Canada that has several implications in the field of youth crime prevention as well as for the juvenile justice system. The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) reports that as much as 70% of people suffering from mental health illnesses have their onset during the years of childhood and adolescence (MHCC, 2015), and that the early onset of mental health problems and illnesses have lifelong consequences. Compelling evidence for this latter statement can be seen in Canada’s National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, conducted between 1994 and 2008, which found that children who self-report emotional difficulties at ages four to eight were four times more likely to report depression eight years later (Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), 2015). These statistics are also in line with the results of the Canadian Community Health Survey―Mental HealthFootnote1 which found that the likelihood of youth (age 15-24) coming into contact with police because of a mental or substance use disorder is significantly higher than for those aged 45 and above (Boyce, 2015).

According to the most recent reports of the MHCC (2017), in 2016, more than 7.5 million people in Canada were likely facing one of the common mental illness: major depression, bipolar disorder, alcohol use disorders, social phobia and depression (Ratnasingham et al., 2012 in MHCC, 2017b).

The same report also reveals that more than 900,000 adolescents ages 13 to 19 lived with a mental health problem or illness in Canada (MHCC, 2017a). For this group of population, substance use is the most frequent problem (9.9%), followed by anxiety (9%), mood disorders (5.2%), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (3.9%), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) (1.9%) and conduct disorders (1.9%) (MHCC, 2017b). These statistics show the need to better understand the links between mental illness and youth crime and the practices currently being used to serve the youth suffering from mental health disorders. As such, the purpose of this report is to examine the Canadian knowledge concerning youth suffering from mental health disorders and their involvement in crime, with particular interest in the age group 12-24, to highlight the important correlations between mental health and some specific crime issues and to identify the knowledge gaps.

July 12–14, 2018

Luiss University, Rome

Italy Human Rights, Migration, and Global Governance For Secretary-General António Guterres, who was the High Commissioner for Refugees for a decade (2005–2015) before being elected to lead the UN, one of the most pressing issues currently facing the world body is the large-scale voluntary and involuntary (forced) movement of people across borders. While 2018 marks the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, political, economic, and environmental dysfunction and collapse in their own countries has driven a record high number of people to seek a safer or better life elsewhere. Equally present especially in the West, have been counter-reactions to immigration based on political, social, economic, and security concerns. One reason the United Kingdom is leaving the European Union, with Prime Minister Theresa May triggering “Brexit”, is because of voters’ concerns over the perceived threat of uncontrollable migration. President Trump likewise won office in the US election in part by appealing to many American voters’ fears of immigrants – whether from Mexico (the ‘wall’) or from conflict zones such as Syria.

The global governance and human rights issues in this contemporary era are manifest and complex. The Sustainable Development Goals will be impossible to achieve in the context of state failure, political conflicts, major climate disruptions, and mass population displacements. The rights of citizens also must be balanced against the rights of those fleeing persecution and desperation; more often, the latter are disregarded as populist movements refocus national discourses away from cosmopolitan ideals. These complex ‘wicked problems’ present severe contemporary challenges for the institutions, as well as the idea (and ideals), of global governance.

EBPI & WSIPP

September 2017 The 2012

Legislature passed E2SHB 2536 with the intention that “prevention and intervention services delivered to children and juveniles in the areas of mental health, child welfare, and juvenile justice be primarily evidence-based and research-based, and it is anticipated that such services will be provided in a manner that is culturally competent.”

The bill directs the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) and the University of Washington Evidence-Based Practice Institute (UW) to publish descriptive definitions and prepare an inventory of evidence-based, research-based, and promising practices and services, and to periodically update the inventory as more practices are identified. This is the seventh update to the September 30, 2012 publication. The accompanying report describes the inventory update process, as well as the ongoing technical assistance process by UW.

Caroline Lieselotte von der Heyden

Ruhruniversität Bochum (RUB)

This book examines the tools and the mindset behind estimating the costs of crime and using cost-benefit-analysis (CBA) in criminal justice policy. In an era of “prevention”, there seems to be a growing interest in developing a more profound body of knowledge of cost and benefit figures on crime and crime prevention measures. The author derives a set of criteria from international research and practice, and she concludes with a set of recommendations on how to enhance this particular research branch in Germany. As she makes the case for standardized methodologies, she redirects the attention to the European cost of crime assessment model (MMECC), which has been developed as part of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) supporting policy oriented research (2008). This scientific inventory addresses the topic from a criminological perspective, in order to facilitate the related discourse on evidence-based policy making in Germany, as well as to promote the discussion at European level.

The European Society for Prevention Research (EUSPR) promotes the development of prevention science, and its application to practice so as to promote human health and well-being through high quality research, evidence based interventions, policies and practices.

Society Treasurer, Andrew Brown, offers a personal reflection* of this year’s EUSPR conference

It’s so easy for all the great talks you hear at a multi-day conference like EUSPR’s annual get together to start to blur into each other, and that isn’t fair on the people who have presented. All of them have carefully thought through the things they want to say and have practiced their presentations numerous times before the moment comes. But as a participant it’s two full days (three if you’ve been to the pre-conference workshops) of concentration, conversation and (convivial) catching up.

So this – as I sit waiting for the plane back to London – is my attempt to capture some of the themes that stood out to me from our time in Vienna.

The first thing to say is just how much of an impact the paper chosen for last year’s President’s Award – ‘Dark logic’: theorising the harmful consequences of public health interventions – had on this year’s conference. There were numerous references and reflections that I heard over the last two days. It’s really clear that what Chris said to us in Berlin, and the way that he and his colleagues set out their arguments in the paper, have had a profound effect on a number of leading lights in the EUSPR.

It seemed to me that the concept of “dark logic” articulates something that the prevention scientists and practitioners who make up EUSPR’s membership had been waiting for someone to articulate. Of course all of us knew that there was the possibility of iatrogenic effects from interventions – Scared Straight is a salutary lesson for every programme developer. But this paper took us to a different level.

In conversation with numerous people over the last two days it’s come up as part of a conversation and I’ve tried to reflect on why that might have been. I went back to a talk given by Kasia Okulicz-Kozaryn in Paris a few years ago about why the Strengthening Families intervention hadn’t worked in her native Poland. In my mind at least that talk opened up a stream of reflective and subtle conversations about what was going on in well evidenced programmes that we took out of their original settings and found didn’t perform as well as might have been hoped for.

So this year, whether it was Rosaria Galanti saying that we should never put together a logic model that doesn’t include dark logic ever again, or Nick Axford talking about how they’d used the concept to help practitioners to think through why an intervention hadn’t had the intended outcome, it was never far from our minds.

The second big idea that I think will stick with people is around the idea of a culture of prevention, as articulated by Harry Sumnall, but touched on by a number of speakers. Harry suggests that we need to think more about what the idea of a prevention culture might look like as it has profound effects on how interventions are conceived and implemented. A number of presentations by practitioners that I saw also touched on this indirectly; talking about the need to build a culture of advocacy for prevention. For example Rachele Donini and Marian Quinn gave contrasting presentations reflecting on the lack of that advocacy at a European level and what a difference it made in Ireland, respectively.

There’s also a cross over to the talk that Carl May made which walked us through Normalisation Process Theory and what it can bring to understanding what happens when we move from testing an intervention to implementing it. He argued that by understanding implementation processes we move towards changing what people do (rather than what they believe); we can change the rules, resources and relationships that we bring together to mobilise action; and we can appreciate action in context (where context is dynamic rather than obdurate obstacles). I took this to mean that we should try to develop our understanding of how people impact on our interventions and work with that rather than trying to remove human agency.

Kathryn Oliver’s keynote talk asked us to think about different perspectives on outcomes and how that impacts on prevention policy. She pointed out that the intentions of policy makers and the environment into which interventions are introduced may contribute to their success or failure. She also emphasised that that actors in the process may weigh outcomes quite differently. As with other talks, Kathryn explored unexpected outcomes some of which may be deeply harmful to recipients of interventions.

Nick Axford had four reflections on the conference (over on Twitter) which I’d echo. He says he saw: 

• lots on complexity for example multiple interacting factors contributing to problems and success or otherwise of prevention efforts; 
• a big emphasis on prevention systems – though discrete interventions are an important part of those systems; 
• more awareness of capacity of prevention efforts to harm, and the importance of measuring, averting and mitigating this; and 
• a recognition that we need to think more about scale – designing it into prevention interventions from start or improving services are already scaled.

Personally, I also had some great and wide ranging conversations: with Frederick Groeger-Roth about the second life of evidence based registries; Henrik Jungaberle about popularising prevention; Hanno Petras and Michael Marks about Social Impact Bonds and dynamic systems; Paul Weaver about crypto currency and timebanks as an addendum to our welfare system; Simon Moore about data lakes; Pierre Arwidson about One You; and Larissa Sandoval about cultural adaptation, love and boundaries.

So I come home tired, but exhilarated by the state of our Society and wanting more of the stimulation that meeting with friends and colleagues at EUSPR always brings out. Roll on next year! *This blog represents Andrew’s personal views only, and not that of his employer(s)

Michael Landzelius, Dr, Docent, Director/Föreståndare

Urban Safety and Societal Security Research Center (URBSEC)

University of Gothenburg

This course aimes at students with a solid background in Psychology at a bachelor's level, who are beginning or are currently studying at master´s level. This course is well-suited for students who are particularly interested in cutting-edge psychological research of relevance for the legal system, and especially students who have the ambition to move on to PhD-level studies.

◾The course is given at half speed, daytime. Language of instruction: English. ◾Last day of application: December 15, 2017: PX2104 Legal Psychology: Current Research, 15 credits, Second Cycle. (NB On this page it says last day of application October 16, but you will be able to apply until December 15.)

From:Ministry of Justice, Youth Justice Board for England and Wales, and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service

Published:4 October 2017

This guidance is for those who work in youth justice settings. It explains how to identify and apply for the requirements which are applied to Notices of Supervision.

It contains information on:

•when requirements can be applied to a Notice of Supervision

•how to decide whether the requirements are necessary and proportionate

•when licences apply to children and young people

•the difference between a Notice of Supervision and a licence

•the requirements that can be applied to Notices of Supervision

•standard requirements

•additional requirements

•Intensive Supervision and Surveillance (ISS) and Electronic Monitoring

•the circumstances when it might be applied to a Notice of Supervision

•how to submit a request for Notice of Supervision requirements

You should use it with the national standards for youth justice services and the case management guidance.

September 15, 2017

by Candy Gibson

Women able to care for their infants while serving time in prison are significantly less likely to reoffend, according to a new report launched last night by a University of South Australia lawyer.

Presenting the case for a mother-and-infant facility to be built at Adelaide Women's Prison, UniSA law lecturer Juliette McIntyre says there are strong financial, social and emotional arguments for keeping female inmates close to their newborns.

"Not only are reoffending rates lower, but new mothers have the chance to learn parenting skills and to bond with their child. If those attachments are not formed, there are significant negative impacts for the child's future, including a higher risk of perpetuating a cycle of crime as teenagers and adults," McIntyre says. "Children have a fundamental right not to be separated from their parents."

The report, launched by the Women Lawyers' Association of South Australia, includes plans for a high-quality multipurpose family centre to complement the secure facilities at the Northfield Prison Complex on Grand Junction Road.

McIntyre says it would cost approximately $3.8 million to build and staff the facility, but much of this would be offset by savings in other areas.

"It costs around $92,000 each year to keep a person in jail in South Australia. Add to that the expense of out-of-home care for infants of female inmates and this blows out to more than $100,000 per annum," McIntyre says.

South Australia is the only state in Australia not to provide live-in accommodation for children of mothers in custody.

"This is despite leading the nation back in the 1990s when it established a mother and baby program at the Adelaide Women's Prison." The facility was closed due to lack of funding and pressure on bed space.

The majority of South Australia's female prison population are mothers, but current visiting hours at the Adelaide Women's Prison are restricted and permit a mother in custody to see her children for just a few hours per week; presuming the child is able to make the journey.

"The children of incarcerated mothers are the forgotten victims of crime," McIntyre says. "By establishing a mother-and-infant facility at Adelaide Women's Prison we can make great strides in bringing South Australia back into line with the nation and the world, and protecting the rights of children at the same time."

"Human trafficking is all around us, in all regions of the world," the UN Secretary-General Ant�nio Guterres said at a high-level meeting to assess the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons. UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov said: "We need governments to devote the needed resources to put laws into practice, to support victims, to train practitioners, and to enable inter-agency and cross-border cooperation."

The 11th edition of the European Electronic Monitoring Conference ‘Blurring boundaries: making and breaking connections’ will be held in Zagreb, Croatia. The conference will take place from the 16th of April until the 18th of April 2018.

Press release

Brussels, 18 October 2017 .

As announced by President Juncker in his 2017 State of the Union Address, the Commission is today presenting alongside its 11th Security Union Report a set of operational and practical measures to better defend EU citizens against terrorist threats and deliver a Europe that protects. The measures aim to address vulnerabilities exposed by recent attacks and will support Member States in protecting public spaces and help deprive terrorists of the means to act. The Commission is also proposing to further strengthen the EU's external action on counter-terrorism — including through Europol — and is recommending the EU open negotiations on a revised Passenger Name Record agreement with Canada.

First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said: "We will never give in to terrorists who attack our security and our freedoms. Europeans demand that national governments and the EU tackle these risks with determination. The new actions announced today will help Member States to deprive terrorists of the means to carry out their evil acts and will also better protect our public spaces, and thus our way of life."

Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos said: "Terrorism knows no borders. We will only be able to fight it effectively if we do so jointly – both within the EU and with our partners on a global scale. Effective exchange of information such as Passenger Name Records is critical for the security of our citizens, which is why today we recommend to the Council to authorise negotiations for a revised agreement with Canada and why we will propose to have international agreements between Europol and key countries. We will also continue working with our Member States towards the creation of a future European Intelligence Unit."

Commissioner for the Security Union Julian King said: "Sadly there can never be zero risk of terrorism, but we are continuing to cut the space terrorists have to prepare and carry out their crimes. As terrorist tactics change, we are stepping up our support to Member States in meeting these threats: helping protect the public spaces where people gather, while cutting off terrorists' access to dangerous bomb-making materials, and sources of finance."

Protecting public spaces

With terrorists increasingly targeting public and crowded spaces, as shown by the recent attacks in Barcelona, London, Manchester and Stockholm, the Commission is today presenting an Action Plan to step up the support to Member States efforts to protect and reduce the vulnerability of public spaces. Measures include:

• Increased financial support: The Commission is today providing €18.5 million from the Internal Security Fund to support transnational projects improving the protection of public spaces. In 2018, a further €100 million from the Urban Innovative Actionswill support cities investing in security solutions.
• Guidance material: Over the next year, the Commission will issue new guidance material to help Member States address a wide range of issues related to the protection of public spaces and raising public awareness. The guidance will include technical "security by design" solutions to make public spaces more secure while preserving their open and public nature.
• Exchange of best practices: The Commission will establish a Practitioners' Forum and set up a High Risk Security Network in November to provide a platform for common training and joint exercises to improve preparedness against attacks.
• Improving cooperation between local actors and the private sector: The Commission will set up an Operators' Forum to encourage public-private security partnerships and engage with private operators such as shopping malls, concert organisers, sports arenas and car rental companies. The involvement of local and regional authorities will be reinforced with a dedicated high-level meeting on best practice for the protection of public spaces.

While the likelihood of such attacks is low, the Commission is today also proposing an Action Plan to step up EU level preparedness, resilience and coordination against attacks involving chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) substances. Measures proposed today include the creation of an EU CBRN security network and a CBRN knowledge hub to be set up in the European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC) in Europol.

Depriving terrorists of the means to act

Depriving terrorists of the means to carry out terrorist acts is crucial to prevent further attacks from taking place. The Commission is today presenting additional short-term measures to:

• Restrict access to substances used to make home-made explosives: The Commission is today presenting a Recommendation setting out immediate steps to prevent the misuse of such substances by terrorists. The Commission is also stepping up its review of the Regulation on explosive precursors with an evaluation that will be followed by an impact assessment during the first half of 2018.
• Support law enforcement and judicial authorities when they encounter encryption in criminal investigations, without weakening encryption at a more general level or affecting a large or indiscriminate number of people: The Commission is today proposing technical support measures, a new toolbox of techniques, and training, and proposes setting up a network of points of expertise.
• Tackle terrorist financing: The Commission will look into the obstacles to access financial transaction data in other Member States, and possible EU measures to facilitate and speed up such access.

Reinforcing the EU's external action on counter-terrorism

The Commission is also today proposing to strengthen the EU's external action and cooperation with third countries on counter-terrorism and other serious transnational crime by:

• Recommending to the Council to authorise the opening of negotiations for a revised Passenger Name Records Agreement with Canada, in line with all the requirements set out by the European Court of Justice in its opinion of 26 July.
• Enhancing Europol's cooperation with third countries by presenting, before the end of the year, recommendations to the Council to authorise the opening of negotiations for agreements between the EU and Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey on the transfer of personal data between Europol and these countries to prevent and combat terrorism and serious crimes.

The 11th Security Union Report is also looking at the next steps on countering radicalisation online and offline. Beyond these practical measures for the short term, to be taken over the next 16 months, the Commission is working towards a future European Intelligence Unit, as announced by President Juncker as part of his vision for the European Union by 2025.

19 October 2017

The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) has today released its Annual Report 2016–17, which demonstrates the Institute’s achievements in providing timely, accurate and sound research to inform public policy.

Acting Director, Nicole Rose PSM said the 2016–17 results show the great work of the Institute, which achieved or exceeded all performance targets outlined for the year.

“This year, AIC researchers produced 71 research products, 32 of which are available free on the AIC’s website, further adding to the Institute’s collection of crime and justice research reports,” Ms Rose said.

Research topics included violent extremism, methamphetamine use, cannabis use, armed robbery, fraud, child exploitation material, human trafficking and slavery, homicide, bail support and procedural justice.

“A hallmark of the AIC’s research in 2016–17 was the launch of Crime Statistics Australia, a comprehensive online resource providing a one-stop-shop for current and trend data on Australian crime and justice datasets.

“In 2016–17, 34 per cent of the AIC’s research was used in government publications, and a further 16 per cent was used in parliamentary documents,” Ms Rose said.

“The year also saw strong recognition of the closer ties with the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, with the AIC working closely with the ACIC on a range of projects associated with organised crime.

“Looking to 2017–18, research from the Institute will focus on improving criminal justice responses to family and domestic violence, exploring the futures of crime and justice, examining the links between volume crime and organised crime, and reducing demand for prison.

“The Australian Institute of Criminology had a strong year communicating evidence-based research to inform policy and practice in 2016–17.

“We look forward to another year of promoting justice and crime reduction strategies through the dissemination of timely, accurate and sound research on crime and justice issues in Australia,” Ms Rose said.

The Annual Report 2016–17 can be found on the AIC website.

Today, WHO releases the Violence Prevention Information System - "Violence Info" - a global interactive knowledge platform of scientific findings about the prevalence, consequences, causes and prevention of various forms of violence. The tool contains global, regional and national homicide rates from WHO Global Health Estimates, and country-specific information on laws, policies, strategies and victim services to prevent and respond to violence.

Globally, some 470 000 people are victims of homicide every year. Hundreds of millions more men, women, and children suffer non-fatal forms of violence, including child maltreatment, youth violence, intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and elder abuse, with many suffering multiple forms.

Violence also contributes to leading causes of death such as cancer, heart disease and HIV/AIDS, because victims are at an increased risk of adopting behaviours such as smoking, alcohol and drug misuse, and unsafe sex. Beyond its impact on individual victims, violence also undermines the social and economic development of whole communities and societies.

"Violence often scars the lives of individuals for decades, as victims suffer from a wide range of health, social and economic problems," notes Dr Etienne Krug, Director, WHO Department for the Management of Noncommunicable Diseases, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention. "Yet in recent decades, we have gained the knowledge about how violence can be predicted and prevented. Violence Info should help make this knowledge more easily and widely accessible."

Among the key measures to prevent violence are to:

• Promote education and life skills training

• Limit access to guns, knives, alcohol and drugs

• Support non-violent cultural and social norms

• Foster gender equality

• Provide victim identification and support programmes

• Create safe, stable relationships at home

• Avoid the harmful use of alcohol and drugs

Violence Info is presented at WHO's 8th Meeting on Milestones in a Global Campaign for Violence Prevention. The meeting convenes delegates from around 50 countries in Ottawa, Canada, with the aim of advancing violence prevention, in particular through implementation of policies and programmes to achieve related Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets.

Author:UNICEF and IOM

September 2017

This joint report from UNICEF and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) explores in detail survey data from the Central and Eastern Mediterranean Sea routes to Europe, focusing on adolescents and youth on the move from Africa and Asia. The analysis reveals staggering rates of trafficking and exploitation, and also points to the xenophobia and racism that make young refugees and migrants − especially those from sub-Saharan Africa − vulnerable

Strasbourg 03/10/2017

The HELP online course on International Cooperation in Criminal Matters explores fundamental principles of international judicial cooperation in criminal matters and a range of legal frameworks and legal instruments for cooperation- applied under a general consideration for human rights issues.

In a rapidly changing world under the challenges of globalization and new technologies; to combat transnational crimes such as organized crime, corruption and terrorism and national crimes, mechanisms and instruments of international cooperation in criminal matters are of paramount importance. Trying to provide their citizens with safety and security, it is vital for states to enhance their capacity to deal promptly and efficiently with international cooperation requests based on a range of treaties in European and International Law.

This free on-line course is primarily addressed to legal professionals (judges, prosecutors, central authorities ) working in the field of international cooperation in criminal matters but also to lawyers, academics and other persons interested in this field. The course consists of ten substantive modules which are explored in a practical way, by using presentations, interactive screens, etc:

1. Introduction

2. Legal Framework

3. Extradition

4. Mutual Legal Assistance

5. Transfer of Sentenced Persons

6. Supervision of Offenders, International Validity of Criminal Judgments and Transfer of Proceedings.

7. Seizure and Confiscation of Proceeds of Crime

8. International Cooperation Toolbox

9. Knowledge Check

In the final phase of the Erasmus+ project “Community Counteracting Radicalisation” (CoCoRa), between May and September 2017, the partners have organised the Ambassador Programme, and in September 2017 the project results were presented at the Final Conference in Berlin.

The Ambassador Programme follows up on the CoCoRa Prevention Programme (see our Second Newsletter for more details) and aims to train young people to become “ambassadors”: spokesmen and visible representatives for young peoples’ interests and needs towards local authorities and municipal professionals in the general prevention efforts. Young ambassadors are trained in communication- and dialogical skills to make presentations on workshops for authorities and professionals in the general prevention efforts. As for the previous phases of the CoCoRa project, each partner organisation adapts the general framework to the local needs of the communities and of young people.

The Ambassador Programme in Denmark…

In Denmark, the CoCora Ambassador programme is organized as a training course, following in direct extension of the previous CoCoRa Prevention programme for young people with a Muslim background. Thus, the Ambassador Programme was already introduced during the Prevention programme. By doing so, we ensured a clear continuity between the working topics from the Prevention programme and the themes which the young Ambassadors prioritize in their own Ambassadors´ presentations. The Ambassador Programme also attracted young people from the collaborating Muslim community, who did not participate in the Prevention Programme. In total about 20 young people have shown their interest at an introductory workshop. The final Ambassador group includes 10 participants.

The Ambassador programme has involved external speakers and facilitators who – from various angles - have trained the young Ambassadors in communication techniques, authentic appearance, handling of interreligious dialogues etc. The facilitators included a well-known journalist and reporter with many years of experience from television and media as well as an imam with special experience in intercultural understanding and dialogical communication of religious topics in a secular society.

In the last part of the Ambassador programme, the young Ambassadors work intensively in smaller groups to build their own presentations, which will be presented at the CoCoRa Closing Conference in Berlin as well as in workshops for municipal representatives and a presentation for other young people and adults from the Ambassadors’ own Muslim community. The themes will in particular focus on the concept of citizenship, multiple cultural identities and a daily life that integrates an active citizenship with a religious lifestyle.

…in Austria

In Austria, the CoCora Ambassador program is organized by Verein Multikulturell as a training course with 11 participants from young migrant communities. The training course is a part of prevention programs. The training is coordinated by Klaudia BINNA. During the training sessions, different topics were discussed such as migration, life histories, experience in the host country and expectations for the future. A second trainer from a migrant organization has informed the participants on tolerance, intercultural understanding and dialogic communication in society. A total of 17 young people from different ethnic communities showed interest, but a total of 11 young people were involved in the final Ambassador group. They went through the program and received also a certificate for their contribution at one of the public events.

…in France

In France, the CoCoRa Ambassador programme was organised by ADICE as a training course divided into 4 different workshops. Two groups of 10 young people participated to these workshops, part of the prevention programme. The training was coordinated by ADICE, and the following topics were discussed:

• What are your rights and duties as a citizen from France and Europe?

• How can you communicate interculturally and understand different ways of living, customs and habits? How can you engage yourself as a citizen in volunteering?

• How can you value your competences and get access to the labour market? The objective was to include these young citizens in the society by showing them ways of taking part into it, of acting concretely to make things change. The debates were mostly about intercultural understanding, communication, commitment and civic and democratic participation. A total of 20 young people from different communities and origins took part to the Ambassador programme.

All the Ambassadors worked in group to prepare their own presentation and to learn to present them orally to different speakers. They worked on presenting their own personal projects and their work on intercultural communication.

…in Germany

In Germany, the CoCoRa Ambassador programme was set up according to Cultures Interactive’s (CI) approach of the “Fair Skillls YouTubing Video Workshop and We-Amongst-Ourself-Group (WAOG)”, which was conceptualized in the CoCoRa project (cf. CoCoRa methodology) and has also been part of CI’s programme of civic education and youth-culture work in preventing violent extremism. The WAOG group is based on the principles of group self-awareness, to stimulate social and emotional intelligence and strengthen the young people’s ability to speak expressively about their own experiences and listen respectfully and supportively to others. Based on this group work the participants may then engage – on a purely voluntary and optional level – in a process of video production, which includes training in interviewing and video editing skills. In addition skills of presenting and contextualizing the video before other audiences are trained.

Different groups from two Berlin-Kreuzberg/ Neukölln schools and attached social work units were involved at different stages, the Carl von Ossietzky school (CvO) and the Rütli Campus school, the latter of which had lost students as Syrian travelers in the past. The NGOs ‘Bildung bewegt’ and CI’s project “Spot on, Girls!” took part as well. These organizations show mixed populations with a high proportion of Turkish, Bosnian, Arab and African families building a hybrid “community” of families which to large extents – but by no means exclusively – identify more or less with a Muslim cultural background.

In the first part of the Ambassador programme in March, three CoCoRa youngsters from the CvO were prepared for and attended an international event on youth and radicalization in Brussels, co-organized by the EU commission (RAN; The 13th European Remembrance Day for the Victims of Terrorism). Springing from this a larger group of CvO students met for further session on the topic. In the last part of the Ambassador programme, the eventual course providing the option to engage in video production worked with a group of 7 from “Spot on, Girls!”, CvO and ‘Bildung bewegt’. …

...in Italy

CESIE is organizing the Ambassador Programme in Italy in the form of a stop motion video workshop. The 9 participants, most of them former participants of the Prevention Programme and with a migration background, will learn how to tell their stories, their desires and needs in short animation videos. They start with brainstorming ideas, including an observation walk in Palermo. Then participants receive an introduction into storytelling and preparation of a storyboard for the films. Finally, with the materials and ideas collected, the videos are realized with the support of CESIE’s communication expert. The Programme will conclude with the common preparation of an Ambassador Workshop where local representatives of municipalities and other organisations active in prevention and social inclusion will be invited. Stop motion allows realizing with simple means, even with a smartphone, effective videos using different materials such as pictures, sounds, music, figures etc. Young people learn this way a new method of communication which they can use even with limited language skills.

The Final Conference in Berlin

As a great ending of the two-year project period, in September 2017, the CoCoRa partners conducted the closing conference as a full-time conference in Berlin. The conference programme offered a wide range of keynote speakers and workshops where intercultural ambassadors and partner organisations reported on the development processes and results from CoCoRa.

In all sessions, discussions and engagement of the participants were intensive and high. All presentations and debates were characterized by a positive critical approach to the many issues that still arise in common reflections on good practices in the prevention of radicalization and violent extremism. A special tribute was given to the young intercultural ambassadors who, on the basis of their participation in the CoCoRa learning/training programmes, for the first time stood in front of a larger audience, telling about their own experiences, challenges and expectations for the future as young people with a Muslim and ethnic minority background in today's Europe . It was at the same time moving, instructive and thought-provoking for everyone present.

In addition to the final conference, the CoCoRa partners have organized local ambassador workshops, where the new intercultural ambassadors have had the opportunity to convey their learning and experience from the CoCoRa project to professionals and other stakeholders in the field of prevention actions. An important perspective for the local workshops was the young ambassadors´ contact with schools, youth counselors, youth clubs and local authorities who have invited the ambassadors to disseminate and exploit their knowledge and experience to other young people and youth professionals as part of general prevention efforts in local communities and municipalities.

The CoCoRa Handbooks will soon be available on the project website

20 October 2017:

Geneva, Switzerland

The sexual abuse of children and adolescents is a gross violation of their human rights and a global public health problem. Millions of children and adolescents are subjected to sexual abuse with devastating consequences for their health and well-being which often last into adulthood. It is estimated that 18% of girls and 8% of boys worldwide have experienced sexual abuse.

Health care providers are often the first point of call for distressed parents or adolescents. They need to know how to identify such abuse and provide an empathetic and supportive response to children and adolescents when they disclose, or show signs of, abuse. Health care providers can also help to connect survivors of abuse to other services that they may need through referrals.

In recognition of this WHO has published new evidence-based guidelines to help front-line health workers respond to children and adolescents who have been sexually abused.

"Sexual abuse often remains hidden in a culture of silence," notes Dr Etienne Krug, Director of the WHO Department for the Management of Noncommunicable Diseases, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention. "The new document Responding to children and adolescents who have been sexually abused: WHO clinical guidelines offers advice on the most appropriate ways to support victims so that they come forward and receive the vital services they need to heal."

Avni Amin, Technical Officer at WHO says, "Children and adolescents who have survived sexual abuse have specific needs, different from adults. These guidelines, grounded in ethical principles and human rights standards give health care providers practical advice on how to put these needs first and provide quality and trauma-informed care."

Consequences of sexual abuse

Boys and girls who are sexually abused face higher risks of lifetime diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, and having thoughts of suicide and self-harm. They are more likely to engage in unsafe sex, abuse of drugs and misuse of alcohol, placing them at higher risk for STIs and HIV and for other negative health outcomes that last into adulthood. For girls there is also increased risk of pregnancy and gynaecological disorders.

Culture of silence

A majority of children and adolescents who experience sexual abuse do not seek or receive any services. A key reason for this is that sexual abuse is often undisclosed by victims who face shame or fear blame and stigma. Therefore, much more needs to be done in homes, schools and communities to support victims to disclose, seek help and access services in a timely manner.

Key recommendations

The new guidelines recommend that health care providers:

1. Provide first line support that is child or adolescent-centred and gender sensitive in response to disclosure of sexual abuse.

2. Minimize additional trauma and distress while taking medical history, conducting the examination and documenting the findings.

3. Offer post-rape care that includes HIV post-exposure prophylaxis and adherence support, emergency contraception, STI presumptive treatment where testing is not feasible and Hepatitis B and HPV vaccinations as per national guidance.

4. Consider cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) with a trauma focus to those who have PTSD symptoms and diagnosis, and where safe and appropriate to do so, involve at least one non-offending caregiver.

5. Where required to report child sexual abuse to designated authorities, health care providers should inform the child or adolescent and their non-offending caregivers about the obligation to report the abuse and the limits of confidentiality before interviewing them.

Following the development of guidance material on the management of violent extremist prisoners and on prison-based rehabilitation programmes, UNODC's Justice Section hosted today more than 30 senior level prison officials from around the world, together with representatives from prison inspection mechanisms and other relevant partners, in order to review a checklist which will assist Member States in assessing compliance with The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners ("the Nelson Mandela Rules").

The adoption by the General Assembly of the Nelson Mandela Rules in December 2015 represented a landmark achievement for the international normative framework applicable to prison management. "The hard work which Member States and other partners invested into this process has ensured the continued relevance of prison rules in the 21st century", noted Mr. Aldo Lale-Demoz, UNODC's Deputy Executive Director, during the opening": "It has also created a new - and very much needed - international spotlight on prison conditions, management and the treatment of prisoners. I think we can all agree that safe prisons promote human rights, advance the right to health and contribute to communities safe from crime".

The Nelson Mandela rules also form the normative cornerstone of UNODC's new Global Programme on Addressing Prison Challenges, which was launched to build on this momentum for prison reform. Forming part of this programme, this week's Expert Group was convened to assist national prison administrations in assessing and improving compliance of prison management with the rules in practice. More specifically, experts worked on refining a checklist which can serve either (i) as a basis for newly established internal inspection mechanisms in prison administrations, or (ii) as a tool for revising existing inspection methods and tools in line with international minimum standards. As such, the meeting directly responded to one specific innovation in the rules, namely the need for a two-fold system of external (independent) and internal inspections of prisons and penal services. Numerous Member States have indeed started with reviewing their prison laws and policies in light of the Nelson Mandela Rules.

In Zambia, for example, the Correctional Service convened a high-level consultative meeting in December 2016 to review the national Prison Act with a view to incorporate key provisions of the UN Standard Minimum Rules. The event, organized with the support of UNODC, was opened by Chileshe Mulenga, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, who highlighted that "our aspiration is to make sure we have a Zambia that observes and respects the rights of all human beings within her borders; including those in prisons". He further observed that prisons were not meant to punish but to reform people, so that they can also contribute to national development once released. A key objective is to change the mindset of correctional staff from a regimental/punitive culture to a correctional model. In light of this focus on staff training and as an immediate form of support, UNODC shared with the Zambia Correctional Staff Training College its extensive series of prison management handbooks and curricula.

UNODC's Expert Group Meeting in Vienna, supported by the Government of Germany, included a presentation by representatives from Algeria, Brazil, Thailand and the U.S., who elaborated on the internal inspection systems in place in their national prison systems. Furthermore, the attendance of representatives from the United Nations Sub-Committee on the Prevention of Torture and the International Committee of the Red Cross, amongst others, also ensured a constructive exchange with mechanisms and organizations in charge of independent inspections, or which have extensive experience in visiting prisons around the world.

Looking beyond this initiative, Thabo Pitswani, Minister Plenipotentiary from the Permanent Mission of South Africa, used the opening of the meeting to reiterate that it would champion the formation of a Vienna-based Group of Friends of the Nelson Mandela Rules. "I would like to reaffirm South Africa's commitment to remain actively engaged in promoting awareness of the rules and to support their practical application in Member States", said Mr. Pitswani.

Such Group would provide for a permanent forum to promote the application of the rules, in order to strengthen UNODC's technical support in the field of prisons reform and to facilitate consultations of interested Member States on the different aspects related to prison management. The Group is also planned to facilitate the widest possible involvement of Member States and other stakeholders in the annual marking of Nelson Mandela International Day (18 July) by promoting humane conditions of imprisonment.

International Society of Substance Use Professionals

4th - 8th December 2017, Cancun, Mexico

ISSUP will be coordinating training from a range of international partners to run concurrently to CIJ's 19th International Congress including inputs from Colombo Plan, WHO, UNODC, PAHO, CADCA, CICAD and more. All attendees of the ISSUP training can participate in the CIJ Congress.

Trainings 4th - 8th December:

•The nature, prevention and treatment of drug use and drug use disorders - UNODC

•Training for Treating Adolescents with Substance Use Disorders - CICAD •Creating Drug Free Communities - CADCA

•UTC – 1 Physiology and Pharmacology for Addiction Professionals

•UTC – 2 Treatment for Substance Use Disorders – The Continuum of Care for Addiction Professionals

•UTC 4 - Habilidades básicas de consejería para profesionales de la adicción

•UTC 6 Administración de Casos para Profesionales de Adicción y UTC 7 - Intervención de Crisis para Profesionales de Adicción

•Public health dimension of the world drug problem: Addressing challenges for public health policies, plans & programs - PAHO

•Training for Health Professionals on Identification and Management of Substance Use and Substance Use Disorders in Pregnancy - WHO

New UN child mortality estimates highlight substantial progress since 1990, but also stresses the need to accelerate progress to meet the SDG target 3.2 to end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age by 2030

New study by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation released on 19 October 2017 reveals that the world has made considerable progress in reducing child mortality since 1990. The under-five morality rate has declined by 56 per cent since 1990, and the number of under-five deaths dropped from 12.6 million in 1990 to 5.6 million in 2016.

• UN-IGME press release
• Download the report: Levels and Trends in Child Mortality: Report 2017 , Estimates developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation.

Key findings:

• The remarkable progress in improving child survival since 2000 has saved the lives of 50 million children under age 5.
• If all countries had an under-five mortality rate at or below the average rate of high-income countries, almost 5 million deaths (87 per cent of all under-five deaths) could have been averted in 2016.
• Globally, the neonatal mortality rate fell by 49 per cent from 37 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 19 in 2016, but that decline was slower than the decline in mortality among children aged 1─59 months.
• In 2016, 2.6 million children died in the first month of life – about 7,000 every day – accounting for 46 per cent of all under-five deaths, increasing from 41 per cent in 2000.
• More than 50 countries need to accelerate progress to meet the SDG target on under-five mortality, while more than 60 countries need acceleration to achieve the SDG target on neonatal mortality.
• The majority of the regions in the world and about 70 per cent of all countries at least halved their under-five mortality rate from 1990 to 2016.
• The risk of dying among children aged 5─14 is substantially lower than among younger children. Still, 1 million children died in this age group in 2016.

Data and methodology:

This new release provides the most up-to-date comprehensive information on child mortality worldwide, including a public database containing about 18,000 country-year data points from more than 1,500 series across 195 countries from 1990 (or earlier, up to 1940) to 2017 for mortality of children younger than 5 years taking into account all available nationally-representative data from vital registration systems, population censuses, household surveys, and sample registration systems as of September 2017.

In this round of estimation, a substantial amount of newly available data has been added to the underlying database for under-five, infant and neonatal mortality. Data from 64 new surveys or censuses were added for 40 countries and data from vital registration systems or sample vital registration systems were updated for 131 countries. In total, more than 6,600 country-year data points for 400 series were added or updated. For mortality among children aged 5–14 years, data were calculated from censuses and surveys, or vital registration records of population and deaths in the age group. The database for mortality among children aged 5–14 contains more than 5,500 data points.

An overview on the methodology used to generate the estimates is available in this year's UN IGME report and in the Explanatory notes.

A more detailed explanation of the B3 model used in developing the UN IGME child mortality estimates is available here.

For more information on the child mortality estimation methods, refer to the PLOS Medicine Collection on Child Mortality Estimation Methods.

Also available for download:

• Estimates of under-five, infant, and neonatal mortality: Estimates
• Estimates of mortality among children aged 5-14: Estimates
• Sex-specific estimates of under-five, child and infant mortality rate: Estimates Country-specific methodological notes: Summary
• Underlying data for children under 5: Under-five mortality rate, infant mortality rate and neonatal mortality rate
• Underlying data for children aged 5-14: Probability of dying among children aged 5-14
• Global and regional estimates for children under 5: SDG region and UNICEF region
• Global and regional estimates for children aged 5-14: SDG region and UNICEF region

About UN-IGME

The United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation or UN IGME was formed in 2004 to share data on child mortality, harmonise estimates within the UN system, improve methods for child mortality estimation report on progress towards child survival goals and enhance country capacity to produce timely and properly assessed estimates of child mortality. IGME is led by UNICEF and includes the World Health Organization, the World Bank Group and the United Nations Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

The Commonwealth Charter includes the principle that international peace and security, sustainable economic growth and development, and the rule of law are essential to improving the lives of all people in the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth adopted a Peace Building Commonwealth as its theme for 2017. To support this theme, Preventing Violence, Promoting Peace – A policy tool kit for addressing interpersonal, collective and extremist violence brings together evidence on the prevention of all types of violence including interpersonal violence (child maltreatment, intimate partner violence, sexual violence, elder abuse and youth violence), collective violence (including war and gang violence) and violent extremism. It focuses largely on how to prevent individuals and groups from developing violent behaviours rather than the costly process of dealing with violence and its consequences.

David B. Muhlhausen, September 2017

"CrimeSolutions.gov 500 View the complete list of Programs. It’s important to celebrate milestones, and CrimeSolutions.gov has hit a big one — 500 rated programs. That’s 500 opportunities for the criminal and juvenile justice and victim service practitioners and policymakers we serve to learn about what works, what doesn’t, and what’s promising.

While I am relatively new to the National Institute of Justice, I have spent a good part of my career championing evidence-based policy and the need for rigorous, replicated, program evaluations.

All our resources are limited, and we need to ensure the programs we fund are effective in addressing the many issues faced by criminal justice agencies. CrimeSolutions.gov helps justice professionals, who may or may not be social scientists, improve their effectiveness. The systematic, independent review process and evidence ratings are intended to help practitioners and policymakers understand the implications of social science evidence that can otherwise be difficult to understand or apply, and serve as a basis for gauging the quality of evidence. In short, CrimeSolutions.gov strives to help practitioners answer the question: Does it work?

What’s Next

What’s next for CrimeSolutions.gov certainly involves continuing to rate programs based on the best available evidence. Beyond climbing our way to the next 500 programs, we will continue to improve our methodology for rating programs and making CrimeSolutions.gov more accessible and useful to practitioners.

I cannot overstate the value of replication research. We need to beware of the “single-instance fallacy.” For instance, a program that works in Detroit may not work in a smaller city and vice versa. While numerous individual crime prevention programs have been found effective through randomized experiments, the success of these single programs does not necessarily mean that the same programs will achieve similar success in other jurisdictions or among different populations. For example, the Canadian program Enhanced Access, Acknowledge, Act Sexual Assault Resistance was rated as “Effective” based on a single randomized controlled trial; but would a similar program work in the United States? As another example, a single randomized experiment led to an “Effective” rating for hot spots policing in one jurisdiction, whereas a separate randomized experiment led to a “No Effects” rating in another.

To take our knowledge of what works in crime policy to the next level, we need to determine if initially successful results of these programs can be replicated.

A major challenge to replicating effective programs is that we often do not truly know why an apparently effective program worked in the first place. So how can we replicate it? We also need to think more about why a program works or doesn’t. Was it a champion? Did all the pieces come together perfectly, or did one key factor fail? Understanding the reasons behind the ratings is an enormous step to help us replicate the good results from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

By working with criminal justice practitioners and researchers, I look forward to leading the National Institute of Justice in these challenging, but highly rewarding research efforts."

New report demonstrates impact of domestic violence on workplace safety and productivity

By Andrea Janus, CBC News Posted: Oct 24, 2017

Domestic violence extends beyond the home and into the workplace, a new Ontario study says, with one-third of perpetrators admitting they contacted their partner or ex during work hours to engage in emotionally abusive behaviour or to monitor her whereabouts.

Nearly half of the perpetrators surveyed said domestic violence issues affected their job performance.

■Ontario MPP introduces insurance recovery bill for domestic violence victims after CBC probe

■'It was me': Men who were violent with their partners speak up online

In a joint study issued Tuesday, researchers at Western University and the University of Toronto looked at how domestic violence carries over into the workplace and the effect that has on both victims and perpetrators, as well as workplace safety and productivity.

Of the men who reported contacting a partner or ex during work hours to be emotionally abusive or to monitor her, 92 per cent used telephone calls, emails or text messages, though 14 per cent went to their partner or ex's workplace and 23 per cent went to the home.

About one-fifth of the respondents who engaged in conflict, emotional abuse and/or monitoring also said that someone else at work knew about their behaviour. Eighty-two per cent said a co-worker knew, while 19 per cent said a colleague covered for them while they engaged in such behaviour.

That said, however, only one in three men reported actually discussing their domestic violence situation with someone at their workplace, while between 40 and 50 per cent said their workplace was closed off from or unsupportive about dealing with domestic violence issues.

Meanwhile, on safety and job performance, nearly half of respondents said their domestic violence issues sometimes, often or very often affected their job performance, while one in 10 said they caused or nearly caused an accident at work due to their distraction over these issues.

"When we understand these numbers, we understand that domestic violence is a common social problem and it is a common problem in workplaces," lead researcher Katreena Scott of the University of Toronto told reporters on Tuesday.

"And we have to appreciate that those who perpetrate domestic violence are our co-workers, our supervisors and those working under our supervision."

'Few employers provide training'

For the study, researchers surveyed 500 men who were in one of Ontario's Partner Assault Response (PAR) programs between June of 2015 and February of 2017. Men can be referred to these programs through the criminal justice system as part of a diversion plan, or under their terms of probation or peace bond.

About 11,000 perpetrators of domestic violence attend these programs across the province every year.

In their study, the researchers noted that previous research has showed how domestic violence spills over into the workplace. A study of some 8,000 workers found that one-third of Canadian workers will experience domestic violence at some point in their lifetime, and for over half of them, that will follow them to work. And a 2015 study by the Conference Board of Canada noted that 71 per cent of employers and 55 per cent of government employers reported a situation where they had to protect an employee who was a victim of domestic violence.

"But few employers provide training, either to their managers or their employees, to know what to do when domestic violence happens or is suspected," said Barb MacQuarrie, community director of Western's Centre for Research & Education on Violence Against Women & Children.

Last year, Manitoba amended its employment standards to provide five paid days off for workers dealing with a domestic violence situation. Legislation is pending in Ontario and Saskatchewan.

In Ontario, Bill 148 includes a 10- to 15-day leave of absence with job protection when an employee or a child experiences domestic or sexual violence. The NDP has proposed a private member's bill that would provide up to 10 days of paid leave and allow for up to 15 weeks of unpaid leave while a victim of domestic violence accesses services, finds a new place to live or deals with the court system.

Generally, research into domestic violence focuses on documenting victims' experiences and interventions are aimed at preventing potential victimization, Scott said.

The new research, however, asks perpetrators about their experience, and is aimed at painting a picture of just how far domestic violence extends into the workplace and to document the costs of employers failing to address the issue.

Workplace programs needed

Tim Kelly, executive director of Changing Ways, a PAR program in London, Ont., said he hopes the study serves as a "stepping stone" toward a more informed and meaningful dialogue about domestic violence at work, and to launch initiatives aimed at addressing domestic violence in the workplace.

Immediate steps for employers could include

■Establishing pro-active policies to address domestic violence in the workplace, including procedures to encourage workers to disclose domestic violence in a safe manner.

■Developing partnerships between employers and community-based programs to develop better capacity to intervene and prevent domestic violence among perpetrators.

■Educating managers, supervisors and workers about domestic violence in the workplace and provide them with tools to intervene with perpetrators and potential perpetrators.

"The experience described in this report begins to chart a path toward understanding the importance of workplace interventions and supports," Kelly said.

The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) has today released its Annual Report 2016–17, which demonstrates the Institute’s achievements in providing timely, accurate and sound research to inform public policy.

Acting Director, Nicole Rose PSM said the 2016–17 results show the great work of the Institute, which achieved or exceeded all performance targets outlined for the year.

“This year, AIC researchers produced 71 research products, 32 of which are available free on the AIC’s website, further adding to the Institute’s collection of crime and justice research reports,” Ms Rose said.

Research topics included violent extremism, methamphetamine use, cannabis use, armed robbery, fraud, child exploitation material, human trafficking and slavery, homicide, bail support and procedural justice.

“A hallmark of the AIC’s research in 2016–17 was the launch of Crime Statistics Australia, a comprehensive online resource providing a one-stop-shop for current and trend data on Australian crime and justice datasets.

“In 2016–17, 34 per cent of the AIC’s research was used in government publications, and a further 16 per cent was used in parliamentary documents,” Ms Rose said.

“The year also saw strong recognition of the closer ties with the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, with the AIC working closely with the ACIC on a range of projects associated with organised crime.

“Looking to 2017–18, research from the Institute will focus on improving criminal justice responses to family and domestic violence, exploring the futures of crime and justice, examining the links between volume crime and organised crime, and reducing demand for prison.

“The Australian Institute of Criminology had a strong year communicating evidence-based research to inform policy and practice in 2016–17.

“We look forward to another year of promoting justice and crime reduction strategies through the dissemination of timely, accurate and sound research on crime and justice issues in Australia,” Ms Rose said.

Date: Friday, December 1, 2017 - 11:00

"Join us to hear Dr Silvie Bovarnick and Dr Helen Beckett from the ‘International Centre: Researching child sexual exploitation, violence and trafficking’ at the University of Bedfordshire in the UK, talking about why and how we should engage children and young people in participatory research on sexual violence.

The ‘Being Heard’ project, a collaboration between the Sexual Violence Research Initiative and the International Centre, seeks to promote the ethical, meaningful and participatory involvement of children and young people in sexual violence research. As part of the project, a global scoping was undertaken to review international evidence on youth engagement in participatory research on sexual violence. Sharing emerging findings from the scoping, as well as other related research findings, the session will discuss some of the key barriers, risks, benefits and common ethical issues associated with this work. It will also share practical reflections on how we might meaningfully and ethically involve children and young people in participatory research on sensitive topics. This session aims to help participants to think about some of the practical, ethical and methodological issues associated with youth involvement in participatory research on sensitive issues. There will be a space for you to share some of your experiences, to ask questions and to reflect on some of the practical, ethical and methodological challenges associated with the participatory involvement of children and young people in different stages of the research process.

Who should attend the session?

This session is intended for all working in the field of violence research who are interested in using participatory approaches to involving children and young people in research on sensitive issues. We encourage researchers and practitioners to attend.