In this major area of public policy our work involves:
- Large scale social surveys – surveying many thousands of people annually on the subject of crime and justice;
- Policy evaluations – formulating and evaluating crime and justice policy with flexible innovative approaches, often combining qualitative and quantitative methods; and
- Communications evaluation – optimising communications designed to bring about behaviour change in the areas of crime and justice.
We are proud to host the British Crime Survey & Scottish Crime & Justice Survey
TNS BMRB have conducted the British Crime Survey for the Home Office since 2001 and the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey since its start in 2007. These are designated National Statistics publications.
The nature of the research we undertake is both diverse and often challenging, consulting with offenders as well as victims and their families. We have, for example, worked with:
- Her Majesty’s Court Service (HMCS) to conduct an action research study on the usefulness of psychiatric reports for sentencing purposes, working with forensic psychiatrists and legal practitioners to develop good practice guidance
- The Home Office and Forensic Psychiatry Research Unit at Barts in a study of offenders being monitored under the Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder programme to design a psychological risk assessment tool to predict the likelihood of re-offending
- The Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) to evaluate policy among victims and users of court services, consulting with practitioners and family members bereaved through murder or manslaughter
- The Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) to investigate ways of supporting young victims
- The Ministry of Justice to research the experiences of court users with mental health conditions, learning disabilities and limited mental capacity
- The Scottish Government to evaluate communications to convince young people not to carry knives and reassure the wider population the issue is being tackled.