David J. Smith

Crime, Community and Conflict: The Multi-Agency Approach

There has been a large amount of discussion of ‘inter-agency’ or ‘multi-agency’ approaches to crime-related problems in recent years, often linked to a perceived need for these approaches to be locally based. It has figured prominently in Home Office thinking during the 1980s, summarised in the inter-departmental circular of 1984 on Crime Prevention which did much to stimulate interest in the multi-agency idea under the bold motto ‘Preventing crime is a task for the whole community’ (Home Office, 1984, p. 1). It is also central to the Labour Party’ s (1990) policy recommendations for a ‘partnership’ between local government and the police to ensure a ‘comprehensive crime prevention’ strategy and a safer Britain’. But what is the ‘multi-agency’ approach?

The influence of friends on teenage offending: How long does it last?

This study focuses on the question whether peers have a lasting effect on offending behaviour. In a longitudinal study of 4300 teenagers in Edinburgh, Scotland, respondents nominated three friends at age 13–14 most of whom were identified as other members of the cohort. The growth curve of own offending was modelled over a period of three years from age 13–14. By allowing for the effect of own prior offending on the friendship network, the model specifies the influence running from friends to self. The level of offending of the three friends nominated at age 13–14 has a clear immediate effect on own offending, which steadily diminishes over time but remains statistically significant for a period of four to five years in a ‘slim’ model of broad offending and for two to three years in a ‘fatter’ model that adjusts for a wide range of explanatory variables. Many of these other variables have a significant influence on the growth curve of offending, but friends’ offending is among the most important variables explaining own offending. It is argued that social learning about the techniques, pleasures and justifications of offending may be important in explaining the persisting influence of friends, whereas situational factors and peer pressure may be important in explaining their immediate, short-term influence.

Gender Issues in Inter-Agency Relations: Police, Probation and Social Services

This paper is based on a two-year research project entitled ‘Crime, Community and the Inter-Agency Dimension’ and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. The key agencies chosen for our research were the police, social services and the probation service. Our overall objective was to study patterns of agency cooperation within the criminal justice system and to identify important areas of policy tension and potential conflict between these state agencies (cf. Blagg et al., 1988; Sampson et al., 1988; Pearson et al., 1989).

Reforming the response to youth crime: from evidence to implementation

Purpose – This paper seeks to argue that there are many failings in current responses to youth crime and antisocial behaviour in England and Wales, which means that the time is ripe for reform.Design/methodology/approach – This paper summarises the analysis and recommendations of the Independent Commission on Youth Crime and Antisocial Behaviour, which in July 2010 published its report, Time for a Fresh Start, and a book, A New Response to Youth Crime, setting out the evidence on which the report was based. These are considered against a backdrop of failings of the current system and in the context of current cuts in public services.Findings – The present system in England and Wales fails to resolve the tension between punishment and welfare in a coherent way. It is ineffective in preventing crime and reoffending, it targets the disadvantaged and it is incomprehensible to most young offenders. The Commission proposes that in future restorative justice should be the core of the youth justice system.Origina...

Systems Science — Addressing Global issues

This keynote address is given from the standpoint of a reductionist scientist who is deeply concerned about global issues, but who accepts that the problems they present are far too complex to be solved by the methods and approach of reductionist science. My purpose is to illustrate the huge dimensions of these issues, and to underline their crucial importance to the future of human society. They are problems which must be solved, and their baffling complexity indicates that they are firmly in the realm of systems science.