Analysis of Crime Prevention in the United Kingdom

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UK LAW AND LEGAL SYSTEM
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Table of Content
Introduction....................................................................................................................................................3
Effectiveness of criminal justice process.......................................................................................................3
Combination of various agencies to enable fairer justice system..................................................................4
Effectiveness of various crime prevention initiatives....................................................................................4
Evaluation of effectiveness............................................................................................................................5
Roles of agencies for public protection.........................................................................................................5
Reaction of justice agencies to priorities certain crimes................................................................................6
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................................6
References......................................................................................................................................................8
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Introduction
Law and legal system of a country is basically made to control the people of that country and its
system. Use of legal system government develops a pathway to manage workforce of country
well balanced and keep the criminal issues minimised. Thesis statement is to discuss the
effectiveness of law and legal system of UK. Various function and roles of UK public sectors
will be critically evaluated in this essay. Role and responsibilities of various public services of
UK will also be discussed in this section to generate an understanding of working way of legal
system of UK. Formation of various justice systems and its work to prioritise certain crimes to
give fair justice system to UK people will be critically evaluated in this chapter.
Effectiveness of criminal justice process
The criminal justice system of UK investigates and punishes people of this country to who are
convicted or a suspect who commit any crime. It has been noted that there are 1.7 million
criminal cases in September 2015 that were dealt with in the courts of UK. This system is
developed police forces, Crown Prosecution Services and other various systems that can bring
prosecutions. According to Melissaris (2016: 116-119) it also made up HM Courts and
Tribunals Services, witnesses, victims, witness services, probation services, lawyers and also
judiciary. Here convicted and defendants are main participants. However, this system has been
changed over past few years and now it has no single ownership. This system also goes through
various reforms and changes.
It has various ranges of service systems that have different functions to deal with. Therefore it
has to be as much effective as possible to maintain law and order in the justice system of UK
(Norton & Ahmed, 2016: 111-117). Additionally, each executive sector has to work
collaboratively to provide justice people. However, there are many factors for which working
process can get highly difficult. Public organisations need a level of freedom from each other so
that they can work properly in their own system and also there is no influences coming from
other department. There is a National Criminal Justice Board which observes the system of UK
justice as a whole. Defendants and witness can make different choices about please and also the
time to provide evidences (Mugabi & Bishop, 2015: 195-212). Even they can change their mind
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at short span of time. Although overall level of crimes of UK is falling significantly, the number
of relatively complex cases like sex crimes, terrorisms and various complex frauds are nowadays
is increasing.
Combination of various agencies to enable fairer justice system
Various activities in Criminal Justice System are carried out in relatively standard way. However
there are various different scopes for improvement projects of justice system of UK to improve
the way that different agencies work together in order to increase efficiency and effectiveness of
justice system. There is an attempt in Kent to improve the way different agencies prepare
themselves for Crown Court Trials. There is a partnership formed in Northumbria between local
criminal justice and a system belongs to third sector. As commented by Nelken (2017: 36-42)
this sectors helps black and minority Ethnic women who have faced various domestic abuses,
forced marriage and violence based on their honour. In Warwickshire there is development of the
Justice Centre in Leamington Spa. This is considered as a One Stop Shop for victims of various
criminal cases, witnesses, possible suspects and also the wider community of UK.
There are many crime management principles also to mitigate crimes and injustices in this
country (Odermatt, 2017: 1051-1075). In order to get success in to lessen criminal activities in
various regions a structured and well planned approaches have been created. Additionally, strong
leadership bond and willingness to engage in various initiatives to reduce crimes in the country is
needed. Involvement of number of agencies makes the process smoother for criminal cases that
are relatively harder to achieve. Agencies have to work together at local and national level to
achieve every objectives of Criminal Justice System of UK.
Effectiveness of various crime prevention initiatives
Police forces and criminal justice system of UK mainly focus on catching criminals and giving
punishment if those criminal charges get proved. However, new initiatives are needed to face the
challenges of some criminal activities that are increasing every day. As an example, an effective
collaboration of Warwickshire Police department and Warwickshire Council found out that
introduction of new trolley design is relatively successful in case of reducing bag and wallet theft
in the supermarket or other crowded place. As opined by Jones & Benson, (2016: 77-87) Justice
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System is also working on prevention policies of situational crimes which is influenced by crime
prevention policies of UK. Provision of specialised training to police forces and various agencies
that are directly involved with crime prevention is also an effective initiative to deal with
criminals. Proper development of crime sciences and policies based on intelligences also
effective initiatives that work in favour of policies and justice department of UK (Boella et al.
2016: 245-283). It has been noted that internal sex trafficking is a type of racially motivated
crimes in UK and therefore various national policies have been formulated to tackle this issue.
Various child exploitation and online protection centre have been built by the police authorities
and Department of Education to provide a solution to these activities.
Evaluation of effectiveness
There are a number of criminal activities in UK that have direct link alcohol pricing. It has been
noted that increasing or decreasing of alcohol pricing is directly linked with criminal activities.
When Home Office consider individual crimes rather than all, there is a large number of criminal
activities are that has link with alcohol abuse. Research has shown 1% increase in on or off trade
prices above inflation rate in UK can have the ability to avoid 6000 emergency cases that is
related to violence in every year. Therefore Minimum Unit Pricing has been presented as a
policy in UK justice department to design pricing systems of such things to reduce social
disorder of the system (Adam et al. 2016: 173-189). A modelling has estimated that level of 45
pence per unit can provide reduction of 28900 crimes per year in UK. In addition to that, it also
saves about £31 million costs to criminal justice system which rises to about £260 million in 10
year period. It also shows the fall of 3500 crimes that have been committed throughout the UK.
After implementation of Maximum Unit Pricing in Scotland government has accounted 121
fewer deaths as well as 2042 less admission cases in hospital in every year. Introduction of
Cumulative Impact of Policies is intended to lessen crime and various social injustices levels
that took place in night.
Roles of agencies for public protection
A Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangement is a system that deals with management of sex
offenders that already has been registered, violence. Responsible authorities of MAPPA include
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National Probation Service, HM Prison Service and England and Wales Police Forces.
MAPPA was basically introduced by Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 and
Criminal Justice Act 2003. Legislative system of UK has three stage processes in order to
manage dangerous criminals. These agencies have partnered with various social and health
agencies to properly identify criminals of various regions. Agencies also conduct a risk
assessment process which is formal of every offender and then send them to multi agency
management of UK (Blanco & Pontin, 2017: 285-308). Risk assessment has been done by the
system to identify various circumstances that can lead to serious criminal issues of a specific
criminal and take steps to mitigate these risks. Agencies of UK have to deal with past offending
cases of the criminals, their circumstances and psychological factors. Probation service system of
UK also use risk assessment tools which is called Risk Matrix 2000. This technological tool
helps police to evaluate statistical data to find out the likelihood of re offending.
Reaction of justice agencies to priorities certain crimes
Justice department of UK has mainly focused on sex related crimes, modern day slavery and
ethnicity related issues to provide fair treatment to every people of UK and reduce overall crime
rate from this country (López, 2018: 1-20). ACPO Criminal Record Service intelligence evaluate
significant amount of data to gather useful information and intelligences related to sexual crimes.
These data help police to find out criminals and provide them punishment according to severity
of crime. The unit also has specific employees who manage as well as record data of sexual
offences. Proper educational training is being provided to people of UK to generate awareness
about modern day slavery and ethnicity related crimes. Possible punishments for these crimes are
also described in these campaigns.
Conclusion
From this study it has been concluded that UK law and legal system is trying to work effectively
to provide better services to people and keep the crime rate as low as possible. Roles and
responsibilities of policies and other criminal department have to work collaboratively to deal
with various criminal activities. Proper exploration of the use of criminal data to find out crimes
to mitigate it will also critically evaluate in this chapter. Agencies also developed a structure
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according to four standard stages that are planning, initiating, and conduction of projects and
then proper measurement of success.
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References
Books
Jones, H., & Benson, C. (2016). Publishing law. Abingdon: Routledge.
Melissaris, E. (2016). Ubiquitous law: legal theory and the space for legal pluralism. Abingdon:
Routledge.
Nelken, D. (2017). Comparing legal cultures. Abingdon: Routledge.
Journals
Adam, I., Berg, J., Trauner, F., Tuley, M., & Westerveen, L. (2016). The UK in Justice and
Home Affairs: the engaged outsider. Policy Brief, (2016/6Institute).
Blanco, E. M., & Pontin, B. (2017). Litigating extraterritorial nuisances under english common
law and UK statute. Transnational Environmental Law, 6(2), 285-308.
Boella, G., Di Caro, L., Humphreys, L., Robaldo, L., Rossi, P., & van der Torre, L. (2016).
Eunomos, a legal document and knowledge management system for the web to provide relevant,
reliable and up-to-date information on the law. Artificial Intelligence and Law, 24(3), 245-283.
López, M. C. (2018). New challenges in the UK Legal Education landscape: TEF, SQE and the
Law Teacher. REJIE: Revista Jurídica de Investigación e Innovación Educativa, (18), 1-20
Mugabi, I., & Bishop, J. (2015). The Need for a Dualist Application of Public and Private Law in
Great Britain Following the Use of “Flame Trolling” During the 2011 UK Riots: A Review and
Model. In New Threats and Countermeasures in Digital Crime and Cyber Terrorism (pp. 195-
212). IGI Global.
Norton, J., & Ahmed, F. (2016). Written Evidence to the UK Home Affairs Committee's Inquiry
on Sharia Councils.
Odermatt, J. (2017). Brexit and International law: disentangling legal orders. Emory
International Law Review, 31, 1051-1075.
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