Resource Material Series - UNAFEI

UNAFEI is based in Tokyo, and includes an interesting Publications section (available on the English version of its web site). Within this section is the Resource Material Series, an ongoing series of congresses and seminars, each on a different subject. Most recently these have covered:

• Juvenile justice & the UN standards and norms
• Effective measures for the treatment, rehabilitation & social integration of juvenile offenders
• Children as victims and witnesses
• Multi-agency cooperation in community based treatment of offenders
• Staff training for correctional leadership
• and The state of cybercrime: current issues and countermeasures.

Within each theme there are 'Visiting Expert's Papers', which are usually (but not exclusively) by academics from Europe, the United States and Australia and 'Participants' Papers' which give an insight from a wider variety of countries into the topic under discussion. For example Children as victims and witnesses has contributions from Egypt, Malaysia and the Maldives, and Cybercrime from Kenya, the Philippines and Thailand. 

Latest series of Law in Action

I've previously mentioned Radio 4's Law in Action programme:
http://birkbecklibrarylaw.blogspot.co.uk/2008/06/bbc-radio-4-law-in-action.html 
but wanted to flag up the most recent series, which broadcast last month.

Topics covered included Criminal Legal Aid cuts, the introduction of criminal court charges and a discussion around alternatives to imprisoning mothers (often jailed for non-violent crimes).

All are currently available to listen to / download from:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tgy1/episodes/downloads 

Dying Speeches & Bloody Murders: Crime Broadsides

I've just discovered this resource, collected and digitised by the Harvard Law School Library.

Broadsides were published in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries as street literature for the lower classes. These one-sided sheets usually included an illustration, an account of the crime and details of the criminal's confession. A verse cautioning the reader to avoid the fate of the perpetrator was also common.

Harvard's collection includes more than 500 broadsides spanning 1707 to 1891 and covering crimes such as assault, stealing, murder, robbery and treason. Many of the broadsides describe the results of sentences handed down at the Old Bailey.

New ejournal subscriptions

From today two new journals are available online via the Birkbeck elibrary. They are:
Critical Criminology - full text available from 1997 to present
Punishment & Society - full text available from 1999 to present

If you are a Birkbeck member of staff or student, the journals can be accessed via the usual route.

Crime data available via the Economic and Social Data Service

Whilst a large amount of data has been available via the Economic & Social Data Service for many years, they have recently launched thematic crime pages to make it easier to find available information in this area. 

Within the pages are pointers to key data sources, example searches which illustrate how best to find crime-related data, and web-based videos which talk through ESDS's online data exploration tools. These videos demonstrate how researchers can find data and access both survey and qualitative data and conduct simple online tabulations and graphs using ESDS’s suite of online data exploration tools. 

Key data sets accessible via ESDS include:

* the British Crime Survey (coverage includes fear of crime, attitudes towards the police and criminal justice system)

* Crime in England & Wales (published quarterly, covers latest recorded crime figures)

* International Crime Victim Survey (data from EU countries plus some others, e.g. USA, Russia. This covers householders' experience with respect to crime, policing, crime prevention & fear of crime.)

Crime Line wiki

The Crime Line wiki, set up by Andrew Keogh, contains a wealth of information on criminal law and criminal justice. Clicking on one of the headings on the left hand side of the Home page takes you through to more information on, for example, Evidence, PACE, Prison Law and Terrorism.

From the wiki it is also possible to subscribe to the CrimeLine Updater, a free weekly email newsletter containing information on new case law, legislation and news.

Whilst generally entries are of a high quality, Crime Line is an open access project. This means that anyone can contribute to the wiki simply by creating an account. So, always check what you are reading against other sources such as books, academic journals and legislation / case law within LexisLibrary and Westlaw UK.