This Translational Fellowship project seeks to reduce the number of adults prosecuted for minor crimes by supporting police forces to resolve more crime without going to court.
Out of court resolutions have proved effective in reducing reoffending and addressing victim needs. There is great potential to make better use of these options so that the whole system functions more effectively.
This research involves gathering good practice and solutions from police forces whose use of out of court resolutions versus charge is high, to support police to make the most of these underused lower gears of the justice system.
Transform Justice will interview police forces at the top of our crime resolution tracker (which ranks forces on their use of out of court resolutions versus charge) to understand how they are achieving this performance. The research will cover a range of topics including the force’s operational model for out of court resolutions, leadership and culture, accounting for vulnerability, and disproportionality in use of out of court resolutions. The work will generate practical, evidenced advice to police forces looking to improve their effective use of out of court resolutions.
About the Translational Fellow
Fionnuala Ratcliffe is deputy director for Transform Justice. She leads Transform Justice’s work promoting the use of ways to resolve crime without going to court. She has conducted research on public and victim views of out of court resolutions and written good practice guides for police forces on how to increase effective use of these options. She also co-authored reports on assaults on police and NHS staff, and use of detention in police custody, and leads Transform Justice’s CourtWatch London programme which brings members of the public into magistrates’ courts to observe criminal hearings and report back what they see.
Fionnuala is a trustee of the charity Unlock and is a volunteer for the charity Circles South East and the Tower Hamlets police community scrutiny panel.
About Transform Justice
Transform Justice is a national research and campaigning charity working for a fair, open, and compassionate justice system. They look towards a future in which there is less crime and fewer people come into contact with the criminal justice system. They believe that evidence about what works to reduce crime and prevent reoffending should be at the heart of policy decisions and embedded in practice by those working in the criminal justice sector.