New Criminology libguide

Previously linked with Law in an online library guide, Criminology has now come out of the shadows and has its own guide, providing information on a variety of resources available to Criminology students, highlighting those collections which are likely to be of most use in your studies.

Find it at: https://bbk.libguides.com/criminology 

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. 

New resource - Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice

The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice is an excellent resource if you're looking to gain insight into a particular topic. It's possible to either search or browse the encyclopedia. Broad subject areas are outlined below: 

Each entry provides a detailed discussion of the subject matter, and includes suggestions for further reading, and a reference list. New entries are regularly being added to the encyclopedia, and so it will continue to grow in scope. 

Highly recommended for criminology students. 

What is life in prison really like? Ear Hustle provides an insight.

Ear Hustle brings you stories of life inside prison, shared and produced by those living it. 

The podcast is a partnership between Earlonne Woods and Antwan Williams, currently incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison, and Nigel Poor, a Bay Area artist. 

Each podcast covers a different topic, from the importance of getting a cell mate you’re compatible with, to serving time in solitary confinement, to what it’s like getting old in prison.

Not always an easy listen, but informative and a unique insight into the lives of prisoners. Highly recommended.

Not sure if it’s for you? A short introduction is available to listen to at:   

https://www.earhustlesq.com/listen/2017/5/28/this-is-ear-hustle

Charles Booth's London - website hosted by the LSE launched

Last week I received an email promoting the following: 

LSE has just launched Charles Booth’s London, a website making available the famous poverty maps and the descriptively rich police notebooks arising from Booth’s ground-breaking study Inquiry Into the Life and Labour of the People in London (1886-1903).
 

The new site allows visitors to view, interact with and download the poverty maps, and to geo-locate the police notebooks against the maps. Visitors can also browse and download the notebooks. In addition the site provides a wealth of contextual information about Booth, the Inquiry, and Victorian London more generally.

If you're studying Criminology, you may find the mapping of police notebooks against late Victorian London streets of interest. Even if the maps and notebooks aren't of direct relevance to your course, if you live in London, then like me, you may find it hard to resist finding the area where you live and reading all about it!

HM Inspector of Prisons for England & Wales Annual Report

The most recent annual report from Her Majesty's Inspector of Prisons, covering 2014/15 has been published today.
It includes sections on men in prison, women in prison, children in custody, immigration detention and police custody.

It has already generated a fair amount of press comment, mostly focussing on the conclusion that prisons are in their worst state for a decade - see the BBC, Guardian, Independent and Telegraph.

New Criminology ejournal - Probation Journal

Attention all criminologists, we have a new online subscription to Probation Journal, which covers issues from 1929 to present.

New ejournals - Journal of Criminal Psychology and Safer Communities

As from today, staff and students can access two new journal titles online - the Journal of Criminal Psychology and Safer Communities. The journals can be found by either searching the library catalogue or using the ejournal search on the front page of the library web site. 

More details about the coverage of each journal can be found below.

The Journal of Criminal Psychology

addresses the development of criminal behaviour with a particular focus on prison populations.
It deals with issues surrounding criminal aspects of psychology. The journal encourages the submission of papers from all fields including the social, cognitive, personality, and biological domains that are relevant to the theoretical, research, or clinical aspects of criminal psychology.

Safer Communities

provides broad and peer-reviewed coverage of a range of topics.
These include:
*crime reduction
*neighbourhood policing
*anti-social behaviour
*youth justice
*community justice
*substance misuse
*race and radicalisation.

New resource - Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text

Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text, as the name suggests, is a collection whose content focusses on the following areas:
* Criminology
* Criminal Justice
* Forensic sciences & investigation
* Substance abuse & addiction
* Prisons
*Probation & parole

Containing nearly 500,000 records, CJA provides full text access to more than 300 journals, with abstracts for an additional 250 titles. It can be searched by subject keyword, and should prove useful to students studying both on Law & Criminology programmes.

Wellcome Collection Exhibition - Forensics: the anatomy of crime

From 26th February - 21st June, the Wellcome Collection (just a few minutes walk from Birkbeck, on the Euston Road) will be hosting Forensics: the anatomy of crime, a free exhibition that will explore the history, science and art of forensic medicine.
It promises to highlight the 'complex entwining of law and medicine', and a series of events will run alongside the exhibition.

Worth a visit if you're a criminologist, or are interested in the history and science behind this field.

Crime data on the UK Data Service

About 5 years ago I blogged about the availability of crime data on ESDS, the predecessor to the UK Data Service. Having 'attended' a webinar run by UKDS this week, I thought that a follow-up post wouldn't go amiss.

A wide range of datasets are available via the UKDS, but most pertinent to students studying law or criminology are those grouped together under the Crime and Social Control heading. As the UKDS web site states, 

Crime-related data held by the UK Data Service include not only national crime surveys (which themselves cover diverse issues such as identity theft and alcohol-related disorder in the night-time economy) but also illegal drug use, workers in the criminal justice system, football hooliganism and community policing in Africa.

To access data, staff and students will first need to login. Some datasets require additional registration. Information on how to do this is provided on the site.

Social Welfare Portal

The Social Welfare Portal, based at the British Library includes information on, and links to, reports, Parliamentary papers, government consultations and proposals. It also includes information on relevant books, journal articles and datasets held in the British Library's collections.

Subjects covered include, children and family, vulnerable adults, minority groups, offenders & the criminal justice system, housing and homelessness and education & the state.

It is possible to keep up-to-date with new material within these areas via email alerts, and via the monthly Welfare Reform Digest. To set up email alerts, you need to register, and this can be done from the front page of the portal.