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CJA Director Nina Champion was asked by the Shadow Justice Secretary to be part of an advisory group for his ‘end-to-end’ review of the CJS taking place between January to March 2023. Nina was invited to attend a roundtable on the theme of preventing offending and re-offending at Portcullis House on 12 January. To inform her contributions, Nina organised an online discussion with members working on prevention issues on 6 January. Following the roundtable, The Labour Party asked those present to submit written responses to some set questions within a few days of the roundtable. This submission is based on discussions with members on 6 January and other work the CJA have published over recent years, co-produced with CJA members.

In this response to the Home Affairs Select Committee’s inquiry into drugs, we recommend the government introduce a new, health-based legislative framework for drug use. This framework should be based on the findings of an independent review on the potential for licensing, decriminalisation, legalisation, regulation and taxation of drugs in England and Wales.

We also recommend the expansion of drug diversion schemes, drug courts and Community Sentence Treatment Requirements, as well as evidence-based harm reduction measures, such as Overdose Prevention Centres (OPCs) and drug checking services, in order to make national progress on our drug policy.

Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) play a crucial role in tackling crime, addressing the needs of their communities and ensuring the justice system is fair and effective. This document highlights some of the main challenges currently facing the criminal justice system and provides practical, innovative solutions that PCCs could include in their plans upon taking office. It also focuses on ideas that involve working together with community and voluntary sector organisations, making use of the unique convening role of PCCs.

Serious Violence Reduction Orders (SVROs) will give the police the power to stop and search people who have previously been convicted of carrying a knife. The CJA strongly opposes the implementation of SVROs, which will not address the underlying reasons for reoffending and knife carrying, instead disrupting a person’s rehabilitative journey by encouraging officers to continuously stop and search them.

Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) play a crucial role in tackling crime, addressing the needs of their communities, and ensuring the justice system is fair and effective. In this role, PCCs can stimulate local innovative practice, bring together organisations and individuals from across the criminal justice system to make these initiatives a success and make substantial change to the lives of people affected by crime.

This document highlights some of the main challenges facing the criminal justice system and provides practical innovative solutions that prospective PCCs could include in their manifestos for the 2020 elections.

Our response to MOPAC’s consultation on public access and engagement highlights the need for greater and more authentic engagement with young BAME people in London.

This report considers where desistance stands at present, the barriers that may limit its further progress and the opportunities and risks afforded by current developments.

This report highlights the key elements of personalisation and examines how an agenda focused on it could be achieved within a justice reinvestment model.

The CJA outlines our ambition for uptake of justice reinvestment principles and areas where there is growing evidence of impact in terms of crime reduction and other positive outcomes, principally restorative justice and problem solving in the courts.

This briefing sets out 10 key issues for incoming PCCs in relation to their role in delivering community safety and reducing crime including: reducing reoffending; resettlement, employment and housing; restorative justice and mental health.

This briefing recognises a fresh approach to criminal justice policy is long overdue and suggests twelve problem areas within the adult criminal justice system that need urgent attention in the new parliament.